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AT THE CROSS

1/29/2015

 
In their book titled The God Who Hung on the Cross (Zondervan, 2003, pp. 35-37), Doris I. Rosser and Ellen Vaughn share the following story:

"In September 1999 Pastor Tuy Seng (not his real name) traveled to Kampong Thom Province in northern Cambodia. Throughout that isolated area, most villagers had cast their lot with Buddhism or spiritism. Christianity was virtually unheard of.

"But much to Seng's surprise, when he arrived in one small, rural village the people warmly embraced him and his message about Jesus. When he asked the villagers about their openness to the gospel, an old woman shuffled forward, bowed, and grasped Seng's hands as she said, "We have been waiting for you for twenty years." And then she told him the story of the mysterious God who had hung on the cross.

"In the 1970s the Khmer Rouge, the brutal, Communist-led regime, took over Cambodia, destroying everything in its path. When the soldiers finally descended on this rural, northern village in 1979, they immediately rounded up the villagers and forced them to start digging their own graves. After the villagers had finished digging, they prepared themselves to die. Some screamed to Buddha, others screamed to demon spirits or to their ancestors.

"One of the women started to cry for help based on a childhood memory—a story her mother told her about a God who had hung on a cross. The woman prayed to that unknown God on a cross. Surely, if this God had known suffering, he would have compassion on their plight.

"Suddenly, her solitary cry became one great wail as the entire village started praying to the God who had suffered and hung on a cross. As they continued facing their own graves, the wailing slowly turned to a quiet crying. There was an eerie silence in the muggy jungle air. Slowly, as they dared to turn around and face their captors, they discovered that the soldiers were gone.

"As the old woman finished telling this story, she told Pastor Seng that ever since that humid day from 20 years ago the villagers had been waiting, waiting for someone to come and share the rest of the story about the God who had hung on a cross."

Reading this, I am reminded of what Jesus said in the Gospel of John (12:32-33):  "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.

Ron Hutchcraft comments on this in a piece titled God's Wooden Magnet.  He says, "Strip away all the Christianity, and all the rituals, and all the steeples, and all the creeds and you're down to what this is really the issue - the God who hung on the cross."

As we approach Easter, it is important to remember that Jesus was lifted up on a cross.  But it is even more important to remember why He was lifted up on that cross.  Earlier, in John’s Gospel (3:14-17), Jesus had said:

"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."

Jesus, God's one and only Son, hung on a cross and gave His life as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of all people who have ever lived, including you and me.  Three days later, He arose from the grave and overcame not only sin but death itself.  And that is the message of the Gospel.

Given that Easter is approaching, we will probably have plenty of opportunities to share that message.  When this happens, we must remember that our job as believers is not so much to direct individuals to church as it is to direct individuals to the cross. Once they grasp just Who it was that died upon that cross, and why He died there, their life will invariably be changed.

SOURCES:

Rosser's and Vaughn's story is recounted widely on the internet. 

See also: 


http://www.cfbconline.com/assets/1599/4-17-11am.pdf,

and: 

https://hutchcraft.com/a-word-with-you/your-most-important-relationship/gods-wooden-magnet-4319.

BEFORE AND AFTER

1/26/2015

 
Recently, someone sent me a link to an article titled This Is What Famous Movies Really Looked Like Without Visual Effects.  (My Head Just Exploded).   I was simply dumbfounded at the transformation that unfolded before my eyes.  Check it out here:  http://atchuup.com/movies-before-visual-effects/.

Amazing!  We are so blessed to live in a day and age of CGI, or computer-generated imagery.  If the purpose of Hollywood set designers and special effects personnel is to get us to suspend momentarily our disbelief and to buy into imaginary settings and happenings, then these photos are proof positive that they have done their jobs well. 

In fact, scrolling down to the very end and seeing, by contrast, the special effects extant in the making Godzilla back in 1954, one can really begin to appreciate just how advanced things have now become.

I share this post for two reasons today.  The first is the fun of it all.  I have no doubt that you will be impressed and amazed at the images presented.

But a second reason I share this is just to remind us all of the fact that life can and does change.  At present, you may be in what seems like a rather dull and lifeless world.  But the good news is that it does not have to be this way.

Jesus Christ once made the following statement (in the New Testament Gospel of John, 10:10): “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

A broad knowledge of the Bible helps us to understand that the thief Jesus is here referring to is none other than the Devil. Satan brought death and destruction into this world when he tempted Adam and Eve to sin.  Ever since then, we have all lived under the curse of sin, to the effect that everything in this world, including us, is in a process of decay, ultimately leading to death.

But Jesus came to reverse all of that.  By His own sacrificial death and glorious resurrection from the grave, He has defeated death.  Because of this, He alone has the authority and the power to provide new life.  Hence, His profound claim as recorded in John’s tenth chapter.

As one who has experienced new life in Christ, I urge you to consider what He can do for you.  Jesus Christ offers to transform our lives this very day.  He offers to give us life - authentic, eternal, and abundant.  And when we embrace that offer, our lives are radically changed.

I have heard it said that eternal life is something consisting of both quantity and quality.  Those who are transformed by Jesus Christ are assured that they will one day live forever in Heaven. But they are also promised a full and meaningful life in the here and now as well as the hereafter.  Little wonder then that Jesus stated that He offers life to the full!

The words Jesus used were obviously carefully chosen to reflect this.  When He said “life”, He did not use the standard Koine Greek word for physical life, “bios” (from which we get biology).  Instead, he used “zoe” (from which we get zoology), which implies a fuller, richer type of life. 

And He said that this fuller, richer life was available in “full”.  The word here is “perissos”, meaning, literally, “all around”.  His point is that the life He offers is extensive, comprehensive, expanding beyond all boundaries!


I conclude with reference to another Hollywood film – a classic from an earlier generation that, in its day, equally dazzled audiences.  You see, once someone experienced life in the Emerald City of Oz, then life in Kansas just won’t quite ever be the same again! 

NOTE:  New Testament word studies  can be found at:  
http://biblehub.com/text/john/10-10.htm.

SEEING WHAT GOD SEES

1/22/2015

 
In my last post, I spoke about the sanctity of each and every human life, uniquely created in the image of Almighty God.  I also touched on the emphasis upon this  as undertaken by numerous churches and individual Christians this past Sunday. Today, I wanted to share one other piece related to the sanctity of human life.

Over the holidays, our church incorporated a segment on The Little Drummer Boy into our Christmas musical.  (It was based somewhat on the one made famous several years ago by Prestonwood Baptist Church out in Plano, Texas.) 

Later, when my daughter, Andrea, was home for Christmas, we were discussing all of this.  In that conversation, she shared what had happened earlier at her church, New Vision Baptist Church, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.  Her pastor was preaching a series titled “Do You See What God Sees?”   As a part of that series, the following video was shown in their worship.

I post it here today in the hopes that it will speak to you as much as it did me.


Praise God for what all He sees!  This includes the future each of us possesses in accordance with His will.  More importantly, it includes the value each of us holds in His eyes.  

So, do you see what God sees?  I hope so!  Because, if you do, you will invariably learn to value each and every human life as well.

I leave you with the fitting words of Jeremiah, the Old Testament Prophet (29:11):  “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

NOTES:  Prestonwood Baptist’s arrangement can be viewed online at: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTMlNQTiuQQ.

New Vision Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee can be found online at:  
http://www.newvisionlife.com/.

ALL I CAN SAY IS THANK YOU

1/19/2015

 
I remember it like it was yesterday.  It was October 14, 1987 and I was sitting at home with my beautiful wife and our brand new baby daughter, Andrea, who had been born just four days earlier.  The news carried a story of an eighteen month old girl named Jessica McClure had  been at her aunt's house in an obscure place called Midland, Texas when she fell twenty two feet down into a well with an eight inch casing.

Modern media was just coming of age; and a fledging station known as Cable News Network (or CNN) took up residence along with other national news outlets to cover the story of her rescue.  A virtual media circus ensued over the next fifty eight hours until, using what was then the new technology of water jet cutting, authorities were eventually able to rescue “Baby Jessica”.  

When she was finally rescued, the photograph taken of her being lifted from the well won a Pulitzer Prize and graced the cover of virtually every newspaper and news magazine in America.  Years later, the whole ordeal was made into a movie. 

At the time, along with my wife and me, most all of America was riveted by  this unfolding live drama – so much so that then President Ronald Reagan stated that "everybody in America became godmothers and godfathers of Jessica while this was going on."

In the aftermath, Baby Jessica had to undergo fifteen or so surgeries.  She still lost a toe due to gangrene.  (Her leg had been pinned upside down against her body; and she had no circulation in it for the whole fifty eight hours.)  But other than this and a scar on her forehead, she came through the trial remarkably unscathed.

Afterwards, donations poured in; and little Jessica herself was given a trust fund that matured when she turned twenty five – then equal to about $800,000.  She used the money to buy a house and to pay for a college education for her own two children.  To this day, she lives a quiet, happy life with her husband and two children.

The one thing she does do, however, is to make certain that others know how appreciative she is for having rescued her.  In an interview twenty years after the ordeal, she told Matt Lauer on national television:  “All I can say is thank you.  There are really no words to describe how thankful I really, honestly am.”

I share this today because this past Sunday was “Sanctity of Human Life Sunday” across America.  Tens of thousands of churches and millions of Christians celebrated the blessing that is human life. 

For my part,
I am glad that all of America was once galvanized to save the life of one precious little girl named Baby Jessica. And I long for the day when we are all once again galvanized to save the life of every single person, including both the born and the unborn.   


The Bible teaches us that we are all created in the image of Almighty God.  And Jesus Christ, God's Son, gave His life for each and every one of us.  Surely, therefore, we should value all that God Himself values.  Surely we should love all those whom God Himself loves. 

Besides, only eternity will tell how thankful those who were saved truly are.  And only then will we know how much every single human life really mattered.


NOTE:  Matt Lauer’s interview with Jessica McClure Morales can be found on
www.YouTube.com.

Also, check out the "Baby Jessica Rescue Page" at: http://www.caver.net/j/jrescue.html.

KIDDING AROUND

1/15/2015

 
Hardly a week goes by that my sister does not shoot me a text or an e-mail detailing some new thing said or done by either her four year old grandson or two year old granddaughter. 

After one such recent report, I was reminded of the following piece that I had once come across. 
These statements about the Bible were purportedly written by children and have not been retouched or corrected.

1. The seventh commandment is thou shalt not admit adultery.

2. A Christian should have only one spouse. This is called monotony.

 3. Adam and Eve were created from an apple tree.

 4. Noah's wife was called Joan of Ark.

 5. Lot's wife was a pillar of salt by day, but a ball of fire by night.

 6. Moses led the Hebrews to the Red Sea, where they made unleavened bread, which is bread without any ingredients.

 7. The first commandment was when Eve told Adam to eat the apple.

 8. Moses died before he ever reached Texas.

 9. Then Joshua led the Hebrews in the battle of Geritol.

 10. The greatest miracle in the Bible is when Joshua told his son to stand still and he obeyed him.

 11. David was a Hebrew king skilled at playing the liar. He fought with the Finklesteins, a race of people who lived in Biblical times.

 12. Solomon, one of David's sons, had 300 wives, and 700 porcupines.

 13. Jesus was born because Mary had an immaculate contraption.

 14. Jesus enunciated the Golden Rule, which says to do one to others before they do one to you.

DON'T YOU JUST LOVE KIDS!

SOURCE: 
http://www.makeitclearnow.org/relhumor.html.

DAYS OF OUR LIVES

1/11/2015

 
In my five years or so of blogging, I have yet to post  a video. Until today.  One  came my way  recently that I found quite thought provoking.  For this reason, I have decided to post it here today.  I hope you will take the two minutes and forty five seconds needed to watch it.  And as you do, I can only hope it speaks to you as much as it did me. 
Remember, life is short.  So get busy and make the most of every single opportunity you have in this world.  Because every day that goes by means you have one less chance to do so.

SOURCE:  This video  can be accessed on the internet at www.YouTube.com.  To find it, search under "The Time You Have (In Jelly Beans)".

GOT CHANGE?

1/8/2015

 
Picture
The devotional magazine, Bits and Pieces, once carried the following anecdote:

In 1886, Karl Benz drove his first automobile through the streets of Munich, Germany. He named his car the Mercedes Benz, after his daughter, Mercedes. The machine angered the citizens, because it was noisy and scared the children and horses.

Pressured by the citizens, the local officials immediately established a speed limit for “horseless carriages” of 3.5 miles an hour in the city limits and 7 miles an hour outside. Benz knew he could never develop a market for his car and compete against horses if he had to creep along at those speeds, so he invited the mayor of the town for a ride. The mayor accepted.

                                                                                                Benz then arranged for a milkman to park his horse and wagon on a certain street and, as Benz and the mayor drove by, to whip up his old horse and pass them—and as he did so to give the German equivalent of the Bronx cheer.

The plan worked. The mayor was furious and demanded that Benz overtake the milk wagon. Benz apologized but said that because of the ridiculous speed law he was not permitted to go any faster. Very soon after that the law was changed.


Today, as both the month of January and the year 2015 continue to unfold, one thing is for certain.  If the Lord tarries His return, then things will change in the coming year.  There is no question about that.  The only real question is how we will respond to that change.

We can choose either to embrace it or to reject it.  More to the point, we must choose either to embrace it or to reject it.  Of course, very often, even if we chose to reject it, it still comes our way.  And this is because change is an inevitable part of life.

Besides, change can actually be a good thing.  After all, not many people get from place to place these days by horse and wagon.  In fact, if you lived in Munich and still tried to get around via horseback or buggy today, my suspicion is that you would soon realize that the time for a change was long overdue. 

What changes in your life should you embrace this coming year?  What changes must you embrace this coming year?  Ask God to show you and then to give you the courage and the strength to face them.  And as you do, (to quote the Apostle Paul in Philippians 4:19)  then of this one thing I am sure: "My God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus."


SOURCE:  Bits and Pieces (April 1990, p. 2), as found at: 
https://bible.org/illustration/speed-limit.

MORE THAN JUST THE MINIMUM

1/4/2015

 
Haddon W. Robinson is the Harold John Ockenga Distinguished Professor of Preaching, senior director of the Doctor of Ministry program, and former interim President at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts, who has written fourteen books.   

Several years ago, he also wrote a piece for the Journal of the Evangelical Homiletics Society in which he challenged his readers to do more than just the bare minimum.  On this first full week of another unfolding year, I thought I would post it here.

I will do more than belong.— I will participate.

I will do more than care. --I will help.

I will do more than believe. --I will practice.

I will do more than be fair. --I will be kind.

I will do more than forgive. --I will forget.

I will do more than dream. --I will work.

I will do more than teach. --I will inspire.

I will do more than earn. --I will enrich.

I will do more than give. --I will serve.

I will do more than live. --I will grow.

I will do more than suffer. --I will triumph.

Maybe that is not a bad motto to live by this coming year – this business of doing more than just the bare minimum.  The admonition of Holy Scripture (Ecclesiastes 9:10) is as follows:

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.”

Given this, perhaps we all should be a bit more committed to excellence in the things we do.  No doubt our Lord will be pleased.  And the world will invariably be a better place as well.

*SOURCE:  Journal of the Evangelical Homiletics Society (June 2003), p.12.  Dr. Robinson's faculty web address at G-CTS is: http://www.gordonconwell.edu/academics/view-faculty-member.
cfm?faculty_id=15929&grp_id=8948
.

JUST WHAT WE NEEDED

1/2/2015

 
Erma Bombeck was a gifted American writer and humorist who lived from 1927 to 1996.  Her writings focused on the humor she found in everyday life, primarily from the point of view of a suburban housewife and mother.   

She wrote a total of fifteen books, the majority of which were bestsellers.  But, she was perhaps best known for having written over 4,000 newspaper columns.  At their peak in the 1970s, thirty million readers followed her twice-weekly columns in over of the nine hundred newspapers in the U.S. and Canada.

Her style of humor is best reflected in her witticisms.  Here are a few of her gems:

"Insanity is hereditary. You can catch it from your kids."

"My second favorite household chore is ironing. My first one being hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint."

"If a man watches three football games in a row, he should be declared legally dead."

"I consider ironed sheets a health hazard."

"I didn't fight my way to the top of the food chain to be a vegetarian."

"In general, my children refused to eat anything that hadn't danced on TV."

""Seize the moment. Think of all those women on the 'Titanic' who waved off the dessert cart."

"The grass is always greener over the septic tank."

She also had the ability to speak in ways that were not designed to convey humor so much as to convey truth.  Her works are sprinkled with little pithy proverbs that remind us all of certain basic truths.  Again, here are a few examples:

"If you can laugh at it, you can live with it."

"A child needs your love more when he deserves it least."

"There is a thin line that separates laughter and pain, comedy and tragedy, humor and hurt."

"It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else."

"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me.'"

One particular piece she wrote has special relevance for this time of year.  She once wrote a list of New Year’s Resolutions:

1. I'm going to clean this dump just as soon as the kids grow up.

2. I will go to no doctor whose office plants have died.

3. I'm going to follow my husband's suggestion to put a little excitement into my life by living within our budget.

4. I'm going to apply for a hardship scholarship to Weight Watchers.

5. I will never loan my car to anyone I have given birth to.

As usual, these all reflect her chosen style of witty, even sarcastic humor.  But the last one on her list carries the most punch.

6. And just like last year...I am going to remember that my children need love the most when they deserve it the least.

I love the way she ended this list.  Anyone who has children can certainly relate.  My strong suspicion, however, is that all it takes to appreciate this is having been a child oneself.  In my own case, there were many times in my childhood when I needed grace from my parents more than anything else.  Thankfully, that was exactly what I got.

The fact that this has been true in my relationship with my earthly parents is significant.  But even more significantly, I am glad that it has also been true in my spiritual life!  Adam and Eve were our parents; but they were also God’s children.  When they rejected their Heavenly Father in Genesis 3, they deserved punishment.  But inexplicably, they were given grace instead.  And that Grace has been given to each of us in turn.

In short, God did for all of us as His children just exactly what Ms. Bombeck desired to do for her children:  He recognized that we needed love the most when we deserved it the least.  And He gave the greatest expression of that love to us in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ, Who in turn gave His life on a cross that we might receive, not the death we deserve, but rather eternal life.

As the Apostle John says (in 3:16-18),

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

Praise God!  For He gave us just what we needed, not at all what we deserved!

SOURCE:  Erma Bombeck quotes are available on numerous sites on the web.  Her books are also still in pint.  My particular source is:  William J. Bausch's book titled A World of Stories for Preachers and Teachers: And All Who Love Stories That Move and Challenge (Dublin:  The Columba Press, 1998), p. 367.

    Cleo E. Jackson, III

    Occasionally I will add
    a few thoughts to my blog. If you find them inspirational, I will be
    honored.

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