Breaking Bread

 "Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem." Luke 24:13

Our pastor preached on food and fellowship last night. I wanted to share some thoughts on this topic.

First, when we gather together, even if only two people, Jesus is there with us.

"So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus himself drew near and went with them." v. 15

Second, the Bible is a valuable tool for study and the knowledge of Christ.

"And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." v. 27

Third, miracles of revelation can happen when we share a meal.

"Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished out of their sight." v. 30-31

Our home Bible studies are part study, part fellowship, and a lot of food. Breaking bread can be a key to spiritual experience.

"And they said to one another, did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the scriptures to us?" v. 32

Home Bible Study Time Again

Our home Bible study groups start back up this Friday. I am looking forward to seeing who will continue with us from before, and who will join us for the first time. I enjoy the fellowship and the friendship these home small group meetings afford me. When you live alone you appreciate chances to get together with others.

Small groups give shy persons a chance to speak up or to share their thoughts that a big group does not allow. Some people will never speak out in adult Sunday school. They might feel more comfortable sharing their thoughts in a more intimate setting.

A number of our assistant leaders are now full fledged home group leaders of their own. We miss them, but they deserve a chance to stretch their wings a little to see how they do.

God help us as we get together to bear one another's burdens and to love those who are not like us at all. God help our group leaders to share God's word with us. God bless those who have opened their homes to host a group. 

God Keeps Good Books

 Eugenics is the system by which those in power manipulate society by eliminating bad people and by promoting good people. It was used by the Nazi's to eliminate undesirable folks like Jews and the disabled. To weed out the poor and the insane. To use forced sterilization and by killing those found undesirable. It also was a means to promote those found desirable and superior.

AI was founded on eugenic principals. And it is the elites who engineer and fund AI who will decide who lives and who needs to die. AI won't kill anyone. But arrogant tech bros could.

One thing that those who play God forget. Even with a chip in your brain, you still get old and die. Transhumanists think they can beat the rap. They can't.

God is in heaven laughing at the insanity of the tech gods and the crappy way they think to run the world.

"The wicked plots against the just, and gnashes at him with his teeth. The Lord laughs at him, for He sees that his day is coming. The wicked have drawn the sword and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, to slay those who are of upright conduct. Their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bow shall be broken. A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked." Psalm 37:12-16

God keeps good books. He will repay.

A Brief History of Marriage

 When God brought Eve to Adam and Adam recognized who she was, there was no romance and there was no wedding. And yet we accept as fact that Adam and Eve were a married couple. In the Bible there are many occurrences where men and women are together as a married couple without any legally or emotionally binding ceremony. We accept that these people were indeed married, but nothing is mentioned about a wedding.

The first recorded marriage took place about 2350 BC in ancient Mesopotamia. By this time in human history marriage was already an accepted and established institution. But this is the first actual record of a marriage.

My point is that marriage is not a Christian institution at all. People have been getting married as long as there have been people. All eras, all locations, all kinds of people for as long as we know have been getting married.

The first recorded marriage in America was in Jamestown in 1608.

In the past, marriage was more a legal apparatus and a social arrangement, not a romantic one. Romance in marriage is a rather modern addendum to marriage.

The Bible gives us ancient truths that can easily be applied to the modern world about marriage. And God know who is really married and who is playing games.

What's your excuse for not being married and never getting married? You have the weight of all of human history against your selfish decision.

The Coming Crisis

I see a crisis brewing in our Fellowship. As we of the first generation of people who were saved in the early wave of revival age out, including some of our older pastors, a new group of young, zealous, enthusiastic pastors take the reigns of leadership. There could arise a conflict between the I'm hanging on for dear life, or the old wine is better group, and the new wine, all in, go for broke young guys.

We who have been around and are still here cannot do what we used to do anymore. We are not on the cutting edge of evangelism anymore. We are too busy enduring to the end to be involved in what makes a church grow. And the pool of brand new converts is not as big as it once was so that there are not as many new people to do what needs to be done.

The way that I see it is that a pastor can do one of two things with this scenario. First, he can blow the bugle and holler charge and lead the troops to war. And ignore or abuse the elders in the church. Or, he can use wisdom and minister to everyone in his church where they are. Run with the runners. Sit with the elders. Lead the outreach, visit the sick and infirm. A wise pastor will see what is in front of him and try hard to help everyone, not despise the old folks and cater only to our youth.

One big myth is that the elders among us are a treasure trove of wisdom to tap. We are not quite sure of the how or why of the past, much less what we ought to do going forward. A pastor who lives in the past will become frustrated in his ministry, wishing it could be like it used to be in the good old days.

There seems to be a crisis coming. Are we prepared to handle it?

When Evil Is Beautiful

 In the world of evil there seems to be a progression. In the beginning evil looked evil. Evil worked by fear. We are afraid of monsters and demons that look like monsters and demons. So evil progressed from monstrous to beautiful.

Why are demons portrayed as beautiful? Monsters want to take something from us. A beautiful monster will get us to give it to them freely. Beauty invokes desire. Desire, by nature, requires something worth having. The devil know this. He can be monstrous if need be. But he can also be beautiful if necessary.

"And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light." 2Cor. 11:14

Just because something is beautiful and desirable does not make it right to have or good for us. Satan did not tempt Eve by being monstrous. He beguiled her with smooth words and enticed her with a beautiful appearance. Some things never change. Desire has destroyed more souls than fear ever could.

A Lesson

When everything is a crisis, nothing is a crisis. Or so it seems.  It's like the boy who cried wolf. People stop hearing even when the warning becomes real. This is a lesson that every preacher of the Gospel should learn.

Does God repeat Himself in the Bible? Sure He does. With a span of sometimes centuries between the times He spoke. When we read the bible we see themes and patterns emerging and we do well to heed those words. But let a preacher preach on the same subject or give the same warning time after time and soon, no one will hear that preacher anymore. Especially if nothing in life really changes.

Don't be the boy who cried wolf. Don't be the preacher who tries to light the same fire every time. Don't be the husband who makes the same promises or the wife who makes the same threats day after day.

It's he who endures to the end who will in the end be saved. Not him who runs the fastest of who climbs the highest. Endurance takes time. And patience. And wisdom.