A 2-verse Sermon Part II

 Last blog, I shared the following verses from Jude, with the premise that a full sermon easily derives form these two:

"24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and [a]forever. Amen."

"24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling..."

I stumble all the time, but G^d is able to KEEP us from SIN! Think about it. We count on all sorts of things to keep us from sin: self discipline, rules, more rules, procedures, and others. But G^d is able! He wants the best for us, and His Word is invaluable--but we must both read AND heed! Thanks be to G^d that He keeps us from stumbling...even more than we already do.

"...and to make you stand in the presence of His glory..."

Think about this a minute. Think of all the cases in the Scriptures where someone came into the presence of G^d.

Here's jsut one example, Genesis 17: "Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him,

“I am God Almighty;
Walk before Me, and be blameless.
2 “I will establish My covenant between Me and you,
And I will multiply you exceedingly.”

3 Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him..."

And Lev 9: "23 Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting. When they came out and blessed the people, the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. 24 Then fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the portions of fat on the altar; and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces...".

And even the emissary of the L^rd can elicit this response. See Josh 5: 13 Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” 14 He said, “No; rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the Lord.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?” 15 The captain of the Lord’s host said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

And trust me there are more like 1 Kings 18:38-40, 1 Chronicles 21:15-17, Ezek 1:28

"...blameless with great joy...".

Consider, Ex 3: "5 Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 He said also, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God."

And we'll wait to do this last verse in the next post.

25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and [a]forever. Amen.

A 2-verse Sermon Part I

 I remember back in 2013, sitting in the Auto Licensing office in Gaborone, Botswana reading as I waited my turn. In Botswana, everyone waits a while for everything, so I always took something to read. I ran across a pair of verses that some author mentioned, Jude 24 and 25. These 2 verses are worth I sermon I think. Take a look at the whole benediction,

"24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and [a]forever. Amen."

Think about these verses for a couple of days, and I'll share my thoughts next post. I memorized the 2 short verses and commend that to you too.

Alone!

 No, I am seldom alone personally these days, but Brenda, Andrew and I have been watching a History Channel show called "Alone" 4-5 nights per week lately. It is pretty interesting. After an extensive interview live demonstrating your survival skills, 10 folks are picked to go to a remote place and survive as long as possible. The last one to quit wins $500,000--so there is considerable incentive.

Two of the three different seasons have been on Vancouver Island, Canada. It is pretty cold and usually rainy. Andrew and I constantly analyze what is being done, and freely offer our critiques. It is amazing to us how many folks "tap-out" very early in the experience--within the first week, and sometimes the first day; $500k down the drain!

They struggle mostly with finding food. Fortunately the sites are maritime or at least fresh water rich. Fishing seems about the only way to eat, though one guy made it over 50 days mostly on mice he killed with a dead-fall. One guy had success with Dungeness crabs.The good ones know lots of seaweed and green plants they can eat.

One premise is that being alone is a great hardship, but we are mostly through a season wherein 2 family members are "Alone Together" and their dropout rate has been faster than usual. In a pair, the one weak link takes out his partner.

One noteworthy useful warning. In almost every season, one person cuts themselves somehow. Never cut towards yourself, and don't run with sharp objects. We suspect in some cases the cut was a "noble excuse" for quitting.

Well, that is more than you likely wanted to know. You might give the show a look on the History channel, and be careful with sharp objects.  Enjoy.

The Gospel in Only 10 Words

I can't believe I have not blogged this already, but a search didn't find it.

Something over a year ago, I was co-teaching a Sunday School class--one of my fav things to do--on evangelism. As we talked about different ways to share the gospel, it dawned on me that often times we have only a couple of minutes to share. I also know that simpler is usually better. Many academic people want to impress us with their sophisticated complex explanation and verbiage. In my mind, simpler is better and it takes more skills to do simple than complex.

So without further ado, here 'tis in only 10 words:

We in trouble.

Christ is solution.

Repent, trust in Christ's _________ (redemption, salvation, atonement, sacrifice, etc.).

I think most people can memorize it, at least approximately, in just a few minutes. Why not give it a try? If you forget, you can always come back and review it.

Those 10 words can have eternal consequences. Sadly, many, even in the USA, have never heard a clear, simple presentation of the gospel. Perhaps almost as sad is that many Christians don't know how to share their faith with others.

So now you know one way to do it.

Questions and comments welcome.

Moving--but not us

A couple of our good friends moved on Saturday up to Birmingham, only about an hour and 15 min NE. We were a bit honored to be engaged in helping, since we aren't members of their congregation, and haven't really done but a few things socially with them. But, it is an honor to be asked to help.

Last Wednesday, I (Phil) helped take down and load some big mirrors and pictures. We carefully packed those, then moved a bigggg matress and box springs to the garage, cleaned under the back porch, and packed a few things.

Friday was much more demanding. Brenda ferried an auto up to their new place, and I loaded my truck with one of his two ATVs, added a bicycle and a few odds and ends, then hitched up to a very large trailer. 

Just before 1030 we headed out with me leading and Brenda watching for problems. We made it to the gate of their community relatively uneventfully. At the gate the guard advised me that pulling a trailer I should have used the service entrance.

Who knew?

Never the less they let us through the gate--which is all that mattered to me.

After a few tries I gave up trying to back the trailer into a quite convoluted lower driveway. We waited a while for our moving couple who had gotten stuck in traffic that we had avoided with a warning from our GPS. The husband decided not to try to back the trailer in either, but he did end up backing it out. Not much fun to be had there either.

We helped unload my truck and trailer and their sedan. Then we had to drive the now-empty trailer back to his brother's home.

I was a bit shocked at how much that ordeal wore me out! I had pulled rental trailers, and even my own trailer quiet a bit, but it was a lot different pulling a borrowed trailer full of delicate plants.

I was whipped!

But, there is a great pleasure in helping a brother in Christ, whether his motel has been underwater, or he simply needs a hand in moving.

Thanks be to G^d that we can serve Him by simply serving one another.  Mk 10:45.

Disaster part III

Well, after the sadness of Disasters Parts I and II, I thought I would share something more cheerful.

For some reason, I was attracted to putting the swimming pool back into shape. There is something symbolic about it for me. Somebody had cleaned the shallow part of the pool with a pressure washer.

On Friday, I pressure washed the part of the deep end of the pool that had become accessible through pumping.

This left the bottom of the pool with about 6-8 inches of mud. One Saturday, after work day at our church grounds, I convinced two friends to go over with me and shovel out the mud into buckets, which one of the friends hauled up on a rope I adapted to the task by furnishing it with a metal clip.
In a bit over an hour two of us managed to get 95% of the mud shoveled into buckets and hauled out.

We tried to suction the remaining mud, but couldn't get the big pump suction hose positioned properly to succeed. So, Saturday afternoon we gave up.

Over the rest of the weekend, Grady and I both pondered solutions. Early Monday morning, we met up and shared our proposals for getting the last of the mud out. Grady graciously agreed to try my solution first. So we:
1) Attached the pump suction hose to a holder that I invented.  Here it is:

2) We then suctioned the water level as low as possible using our new hose holder.

3) Once we got as low as possible, we started adding water to dilute the remaining mud.

4) We kept diluting and pumping until the water was clear.

5) When we turned on the pool pump which circulates the water for cleaning, we got a cloud of new mud, but the pool's cleaning system should take care of that.  

But, there is a price to be paid. I muddied my clothing a bit as you can see below.

At some point Friday, as I was pressure-washing, I was trying to wash off my foot to keep from tracking mud all over the clean part of the the pool. Those wands are long and the hihg, high pressure can make them a bit difficult to control. So, my foot got briefly hit by the pressurized water, and yes, it can take the hide off.

I saw the pool Tuesday, and it looks great.

And just think, G^d cleans up bigger messes than this, in my life alone.

Lost and Found

Two months ago, maybe a bit more, Andrew and I were working with a friend and his stepdad at his new dock. We were helping frame the deck of the dock when the stepdad dropped his metal speedsquare into the lake. We searched around immediately to no avail. It was a bit sad, for the man who lost the square is a professional carpenter and he used it often and had owned it a long time.

In the last month or so, the weather and water have warmed and there has been a lot of swimming. Several times we have dove under the dock to try to find the speedsquare. We knew what the square meant to its owner.

Tonight Andrew and I were down at the dock. I decided to take a new approach. I used the metal life-saving hook to probe the waters where we remember the square going in. In just a short while, maybe 5 minutes or less, I felt something that felt metallic near the middle post, not far from where it had been lost. At first i thought, nah, everyone has searched this area, it must be the pole rattling. But when I touched it a second time, I suggested that I hold my spot and Andrew dive down and see what I was hitting.

Well, Andrew dove down and:

This picture our friend sent to his stepdad. Andrew and I really like this guy and we were thrilled to find his lost tool. I mean really, it was the highlight of an enjoyable visit.

How joyous must G^d be when a lost soul finds its way home into relationship with him and ultimately fellowship in heaven! 

Lk 15:24 "'For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate."

I can't imagine, but I did get a small, small taste of it.

Disaster Part II

Last post I described and posted photos regarding my friend's major flood disaster of this motel. He lost 58 rooms, his check-in office, his business office, his breakfast area, his pool, his maintenance area, his workout room, his laundry area. Fortunately the 60 rooms on the second floor were spared, though not rentable because of the lack of an office and the huge mess on the ground.

As I mentioned, we were trying to help him salvage as much as possible. The room desks looked like they might have escaped, but we shall see in a few days of drying out. I suggested trying to save these along with the micro-fridges. Some of them had been loaded in the dumpster before that decision was approved, but we saved quite a few--that is if they will work once they dry out.

Fortunately there was plenty of storage space to put the lamps, fridges, microwaves, desks, and the few other items that we hope can be reused.

It was daunting to me. On my second day of working, Friday, I sought out the owner and prayed with him. I prayed that G^d's good would be visible in the midst of this disaster. The owner expressed appreciation for the prayer, but said he was MOST bouyed by the presence of so many volunteers who came to transport furniture--to the dumpster or to storage. Volunteers cleaned micro-fridges, cut and hauled out ruined carpets, tore out sheetrock, power-washed mud, mud, mud.

Andrew, our son, worked Thurs and Saturday. I worked Thurs-Sat and then again today (Monday 13 July). I prayed again with the owner who shared that his emotions were up and down--from at peace to depressed. I guess that is understandable. He is overwhlemed and fatigued.

The pool is still full of mud. The number of flooded vehicles has fallen by over half, but 3-4 still remain. Overwhelming is an apt description.

How would you feel?

When, not if, disaster strikes you, how will you respond?

When that happens, I pray that you will have many friends who will come around you and help you. I pray that many will pray with you and lift you before out Father, G^d.

Which reminds me. We just got off a Zoom prayer meeting where we were praying for a good friend and ministry colleague whose wife was just diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.

Kind of helps put things into perspective, eh?

Now That's a Disaster

Last Monday evening there was a torrential downpour.  This is NOT that unusual for Alabama. One of my friends owns a motel. It is NOT near any stream, river, lake or other body of water. It does happen to sit in a bit of a depression that is not otherwise remarkable.

Well, something odd happened last Monday evening.  Somehow a large volume of water descended on the motel which was housing a few guests. Suddenly the water rose to about 3.5 feet above ground level, wiping out the entire ground floor (well everything lower than about 40 inches).

We got the word Thursday, late morning. I got there just before noon to see the above disaster. There were 58 rooms to clear out. In the middle photo you see some of the desk lamps and floor lamps we salvaged. Some were so full or water and mud there was no hope. It was a disaster. And there was NO flood insurance.

Take a little while and let it soak in. Pun intended. The walls were wet, the mattresses were all wet. the carpet and carpet pads were full of water.

If this were YOUR disaster, how would you handle it? What would you think/do?