A Sobering Example

 Acts chapter 5 tells the unfortunate story of Ananias and Sapphira, the couple who lied to the Holy Spirit and paid with their lives. It made me wonder, how do you or I lie to the Holy Spirit? Here is my idea of what could have happened.

Ananias and his wife wanted to give an offering like other people were doing. They had a piece of property and so they made a vow to sell the land and give the money to God. So far, so good. I think that they had an idea of what the land was worth and so their pledge was based on what they expected to get by selling that land. But, they found a buyer who was willing to give them more than the going price for real estate. This is where the trouble started.

I figure that God told them to give it all even though it was more than they planned to give. They figured hey, we will give the original amount and praise the Lord for the blessing of this unexpected windfall. But God said give it all, and they were unwilling to obey the Holy Spirit. So this couple went to church and when the offering plates were passed, they put in their large offering and to them they expected God to honor their gift.

They problem with not obeying the voice of the Holy Spirit is that sometimes, Satan is behind our disobedience.

"Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price  of the land for yourself?" v.3

Ananias thought that partial obedience was good enough. Ananias followed his heart even though he knew what the Lord wanted him to do. Ananias gambled with God and lost. Not only was he not blessed for giving, he ended up dead. And his wife also.

"Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice..."!Sam. 15:22

Rebellion against God is the same as witchcraft. 1Sam.15:23 tells us this.

At a critical time in the life of the first century church God made a point by judging Ananias and Sapphira for their rebellion. This event was never duplicated by anyone else.

From time to time God may speak a figure to you or I to give. It is our duty to obey and give that exact amount. It's not the amount that matters as much as it is keeping our hearts right with God.

"There is one who scatters, yet increases more; and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty." Prov.11:24

America's Greatest sin

Years ago pastor Mitchell preached on America's greatest sin. It was not murder or homosexuality. It was covetousness. Greed for you who think that bigger is better. I wonder what America's greatest sin is today? I think it hasn't changed. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The billionaires pant over the dust on poor people's heads.  

God help us.

The Pattern

 In our church here we do not have outreach every Saturday morning. Instead we have an organized prayer meeting. One of our pastors will say a few words, then we pray, then we end with singing and corporate prayer. That's all, but that's enough. We have outreach later in the day if we have a concert that night. Or if we have a big event to promote.

My experience in serving the Lord for so long is that we all hold certain truths to be unchanging and unshakable. But every church seems to take on the spirit of it's pastor. And since we are not clones, every man's personality is different. And every church will in time find what works for them.

Find out what God is doing where you live, and do what God is doing locally.

I Am Blessed

 "I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread." Psalm 37:25

I live pretty well for someone on a fixed income. I have a budget that I stick to. I pay my bills on time. I buy groceries every week without struggle. I am blessed.

God is always faithful and He is always on time. All of His promises are yes and amen to the glory of His name. Amen.

The Third Generation: Another Option

I had a thought on the third generation curse today. We always look down on the third generation as lazy or unmotivated or downright evil. But I have another option for them.

Could it be that the third generation, without the experience of their parents, find their way following another path? They aren't drinking and carousing and chasing skirts. They are busy studying and preparing for their trip through university and onto the career path. Selling out for Jesus was their parents path of discipleship. Becoming a Christian professional is their chosen path. They want to be a Christian doctor or lawyer or teacher or business leader. They want to bring Jesus into their professional world. Sure there will be small compromises, but they will survive. They will even attend church regularly. They will not join in street preaching, but they will pay their tithes.

The third generation will never be their parents. They do not see the point. Their world view is so different than ours. Can we help them, can we minister to them, or will we write them off and focus on a world that died in the 1970's?

The Real Test

Some pastors wear their hearts on their sleeves. What they feel is obvious to all around them. Other pastors keep their personal feelings under wraps. No one is quite sure what they feel or what motivates them. Pastor Mitchell kept his personal ideas to himself. We knew his politics at election time, but not in an odious way. I wonder how pastor Mitchell would have handled the current political landscape and the man currently serving in Washington DC.

My thought is, if you can control your feelings and emotions, then good for you. If you can't then maybe you ought not to let your personal feelings drive your inspiration in preaching. If you are reading or watching or listening to media that inflames your ideology, maybe you ought to stop,  especially when you have to preach. 

The real test of a local church is can we make followers of Jesus Christ, or are we trying to make political activists? Can we minister to people who vote different than we do? Can we minister to people who hold opposing ideologies?

I had a friend in Prescott who was a moderate Democrat in a church full of conservative Republicans. I would ask him how that made him feel. He told me it goes in one ear and out the other. Pastors could learn a lesson and let radical politics go in one ear and out the other. Or not let it go in one ear at all maybe?

Pray for your pastor.

Where Is Everybody?

 The Fermi paradox basically says, given the vast number of stars and the age of the universe, where is everybody? How can we have never been able to contact any technologically advanced civilizations? One thing this implies might be a failure of evolution to explain the origin of the universe.

We live on what they call the Rare Earth model. Earth is so unique in several important ways. We are in a universe that, towards Earth, has proven to be stable. We have a sun that has been stable. We have a stable climate that supports life. It almost like Earth is perfect for living things.

Where is everybody? They are all right here. We live in a perfect world with perfect circumstance surrounded by the glory of God in the universe. 

To be an atheist is to be dishonest. An atheist has a moral problem, not a scientific one. They seem to be the blind leading the blind.