Mountain Climbing

 The mountain climber carries a lot of weight to climb a mountain. He carries gear and tools and even ropes. He carries food and water and dry socks. It takes a lot of work and a lot of gear to successfully climb a mountain.

But, what about once you have climbed that mountain? Once you are sitting on the top, what do you need? For a while at least, you need nothing. You can take your pack off and just sit there enjoying the view. You can take a selfie to prove that you made it. You do not need to carry your gear once you have arrived.

This is true of life. As we age we find that the things that were so important when we were younger do not matter at all now. We find that there is much less life yet to live as to make us stop putting off things for a later day. That later day is today. It is time to stop worrying about your bank account and your weight. If you are a widow it is time to stop thinking about getting married. You have too little life left to spend it on what have become unimportant pursuits.

This is hard to do in our youth orientated Fellowship. It always about go ye and fasting and striving for perfection instead of surveying how far we have come and how good God has been to us. I am not planning for my next big achievement or my next adventure. I am wondering what to do when I can no longer take care of my house on my own. Where to live when I cannot take care of myself anymore.

In mountain climbing, the only way to succeed is to climb higher. However, you cannot live on a mountain top. So we see that life is not all upward and onward, it involves climbing back down and going back home. For me, this is what retirement is all about. Climbing down and returning home.

On Idolatry

"They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped the molded image. thus they changed their glory into the image of an ox that eats grass." Psalm 106:19-20 

Over and over again in the old testament God criticizes the idolatry of the children of Israel by mocking the image they worship instead of God. He always talks about how they eat grass or cannot see or speak or move on their own. All of this is true. But it made me wonder; what is it about idolatry that makes it so enticing to people?

This is a subject that I know nothing about. I have never prayed to a statue or prayed the rosary of burned incense to an image. But I have suspicions about why this appeals to people. 

First, I think that it is the pageantry associated with pagan worship. The music and dancing and other activities that go with idolatry. The spiritual buzz that people get when they practice this.

Second, I wonder if their are supernatural manifestations that accompany idol worship. There must be something more than tradition or ritual. Are there voices or visions or other manifestations? Something happened while Moses was up on the mountain that caused the people below to go crazy that was not just because of a golden calf.

People will practice false religion for a long time out of tradition or habit. But at some point something supernatural or spiritual must have happened to command such fear and devotion.

Tuesdays With Grandpa.

 My generation grew up on television and Dr. Spock. This generation grew up on social media and influencers. There is one big things we have in common. It is all based on the big lie. There is not one smidgen of reality in mass media. Like one author wrote a while ago, We Are Entertaining Ourselves To Death.

Mass media has lost the trust of many of us. The national news is skewed so far left that it is insulting to many thinking citizens. We have no one speaking truth to power anymore. Just parrots mouthing Trump Derangement Syndrome over and over and over again.

In church we are so focused on one thing sometimes that we forget to minister the whole counsel of God to the faithful saints. Pastors forget that what is a hot button issue to them might not be a hot button issue to many people out there listening to them. Sometimes we find ourselves battling demons and issues that are never mentioned from behind the pulpit.

We are the salt and light to a darkened world. We need to show that Jesus is the answer for their lives. We need to make Christians first, and then make some believers into disciples. Our job is to live out ancient stories and ancient texts and show that God in Christ is always current and fresh.

One final word. Wild animals are not cuddly and friendly. They are wild, they are dangerous, they will hurt you, they are afraid of you. Never feed them or try to pet them.

Help Us

"Let all things be done decently and in order." 1Cor. 14:40

The old testament is a lesson on how to build a nation. And how to build a temple. And how to serve God. The new testament is primarily how to live for Christ, how to operate a local church, how to solve church problems, and how to evangelize the world. It can get involved and complex, but at it's root it is all pretty easy to understand. Israel, by serving God in His temple and in His nation, would be a testimony to the rest of the world. The church age involves no nation building. But it does focus on earth filling. Letting the light shine in dark places and among darkened people.

Our Fellowship is doing it's part to fulfill the great commission. We must be careful not to get too close to the world or worldly systems. When our job is to be salt and light in the world, we cannot risk diluting our message or cheapening our purpose. This is the purpose of a conference. It gives us a way to bring into focus what we know and to keep us on track.

We need pastors to minister to people. We need young people to catch the vision of evangelism. We need every member to support the church's vision. We need Jesus to help us to do His will.

The Best Is Yet To Come

When you have lived your whole life being self absorbed and self focused it is hard not to be the center of attention anymore. You still want the praise and adoration you are accustomed to. You still crave the excitement  of being special. But in reality, you are just another grumpy old man or whiny old woman.

So what do we do as we fade into irrelevance and obscurity? We reminisce. We talk a lot about the good old days. About what we used to do way back when. How good we were and how well we performed. Some of us still have our participation ribbons we got just for playing. And God help us if we were actually good at something or accomplished something.

Life must be lived to the end. We never get to rest on our laurels. Like God, we may get a day off, but we get right back to work. Heaven is not an eternal vacation. It is a place to put into practice the things that we learned in life to serve the Lord for eternity.

Maybe, instead of just wanting more of the same, we should be seeking God to find out what He has for us going forward. We had no idea how this would all play out back then. God always saves the best until now.

"...Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!" Jn. 2:10

"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap id we do not lose heart." Gal. 6:9

"Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would increase abundantly" Job 8:7

 

Missing Chruch

 If you are not feeling well, or if you tend to feel sad or depressed at church time, and if this will keep you from going to church, you will find yourself feeling ill or sad or down every time you think about going to church. When I started thinking about this, I immediately began to assume that it is the devil who does this to us. He strikes us with sickness just before we start to get dressed for church. We have family drama or get into a fight every time we think about going to church. And this would be true.

But what if God is behind your reasons for not going to church? What if God is testing you to see how bad you want to be in church? What if God does not intervene in your condition because He wants to see what is more important to you than going to church?

I am convinced that if you want to be in church, you will be there. You will die on the way to church before you let sickness keep you from going. I will not make concessions for ailing or infirm or housebound people. If you want to be there, you will be there. Any reason you give for not going is just an excuse. Maybe if you went to church Jesus would heal you. 

I personally think that we ought to stop livestreaming church services. Number one, it is a terrible way to go to church. Number two, if it is important enough to you, you will be there in person. If you want to watch a conference sermon, go to conference. 

Missing a service from time to time happens. But miss too many services and I begin to think that you really do not want to be there. Just saying.

Does Much Learning Make Us Crazy?

Theologians, like intellectuals, get a bad rap that is often well deserved. They live in a world of ideas and theories. They are detectives searching for clues. They seek for patterns and reoccurring themes.  But too often they throw out the baby with the bathwater. They take things apart and when they put it all back together they get it wrong.

We have tools that we use to understand ancient languages. Hebrew and Greek dictionaries giving the English translation to ancient words. We are not looking for errors or inconsistencies. We are looking to understand the meaning of the words from the language they were first written to be able to apply them to our current language and understanding.

We often get benefit from the work of theologians. We read their books. We quote them in sermons. But if one of our disciples talked to them they would consider them to be religious but unsaved. This is the wonder of the Bible. Anyone can read it and apply it. Many read it but it is a dark mystery to them. Not to us. We get it.

Theologians would benefit from spending more time among ordinary people and attending a real church. It would benefit them to humble themselves and seek ministry that speaks the Word of God with anointing. Theologians would benefit from what we do three times a week now. We go to church. We sing and worship. We pay our tithes. We greet out friends. And we all have walked down the aisle to kneel at an alter and pray a sinners prayer. Maybe much learning makes us crazy.