Signs And Wonders

 "Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles." Acts 2:43

I have noticed over the years how some pastors try to put the weight of responsibility for the success of the church on the people in the church. It's up to them to win souls and to pay the bills. And I agree that there is a part to play for the people in the pews.

But today I noticed again the important part that leaders play in ministry. It says in this text that sign and wonders were done through the apostles, not the people. The KJV says signs and wonders were done by the apostles. Through or by, it was the apostles who were the conduits for the miraculous.

Signs and wonders is not, put up your sign and wonder how it will work. It is a demonstration of the Spirit and power of God. Divine healing for example. The burden for this is the burden of the apostles and pastors and evangelists. The people were in awe and fear because of the demonstration seen from the leaders.

Pray for your pastor that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit and that his prayers would heal the sick.

Reprobate Minds

 "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting." Romans 1:28

Debased in the KJV is the word reprobate. God gave a God rejecting world over to a reprobate mind. What does this mean? The word reprobate literally means to fail the test. It is a word from the metallurgy world. The idea is to test a precious metal to see if it is real or fake. If it is found to be fake it is rejected and looked down upon.

"Thy silver is become dross..." Isaiah 1:22

This word is then applied to people who, having been tested by God, are rejected by God.

"They profess that they know God; but in works they deny Him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate." Titus 1:16

So God tests people in various ways. He tests conduct. He tests motives. He tests attitudes. He tests knowledge. He wants to see how we measure up to His standards. The mind which God cannot approve must be rejected. God makes righteous judgement so that we are without excuse.

The NKJV say that a reprobate mind will do things which are not fitting. They will do things that are crazy or that do not make sense. They will come up with wacky ideas that make society scratch their heads.

One more thought. We can do things to guarantee that God will accept us.

"Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be reprobates?" 2Cor. 13:5

If God tests us, you can be sure that He tests everyone, saved or not.

MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN. You are weighed in the balances, and are found wanting.

Prayer

"pray without ceasing." 1Thes. 5:17

Tonight pastor preached to challenge us to morning prayer. There is Bible references to morning prayer. I am not a morning person. So while I pray all day long, I will find a way to start my day with prayer in the morning. It may not be early morning. But I will talk to the Lord before I do anything else. And then I will pray all day long as I usually do.

Why is morning prayer so important? Why can't evening prayer work? I am a night owl and a part of an early bird church.

Stuck In The Past?

Way back in time, back when Reagan was president, Evangelicals got chummy with conservative Republican politicians. They formed the Moral Majority and similar groups. They waved the anti abortion banner and the school choice banner and the pro family banner and they found other areas where they could find common ground Between Evangelicals and conservative Republicans.

Unfortunately, those cold war days are long over. Reagan is dead and gone. The Moral Majority has disbanded. But the Evangelicals find they are still beating the same old drums and fighting the same old wars that brought them into the political limelight for a moment.

I'm sure that abortion is a bad idea. But it stopped being  hot button issue years ago. The Bible is clear on human sexuality. But gay marriage is the law today. The cold war is long over. But, sit in some churches and you would think that you have gone back in time.

You have to wonder when the Pope is talking about issues from Rome that pastors don't mention ever in their pulpits. We get hung up on social media and smart phones. Old news! AI and LLMs are what's happening in the tech world today. Should we be worried? What does the Bible say about today?

If we do not speak to modern issues, how is the world supposed to know what is right and what is wrong? People are still lost and wandering in the darkness of sin. Let's be a light that shines in the darkness and that doesn't throw up barricades to people who need help and who have crazy ideas.

Enough of the Rush Limbaugh conservativism and the Ronald Reagan charisma. Preach God's word in such a way that, no matter what, we will make Heaven our home.

 

A Season and In Season

 A season is a unique period of time when we do specific things. We only do those things during that season. We think it strange when people do things out of season. But in church we forget this rule.

Christmas is a unique season of the year. Unique food, unique music, unique celebrations that we only do at Christmas time. Put a tree up in June and your family will think you are crazy!

Conference is a unique period of time for our Fellowship. Whether in Prescott or in one of the regional conferences, we only have conference at conference time. We have conference crowds. We hear conference sermons. We go all in for the week of conference. We do not have conference year round.

When you live somewhere with changing seasons you schedule most of your outreaches during the milder weather. You do not go door to door in a blizzard or in a monsoon rainstorm. You may shiver through an outdoor concert, but visitors will be home and cozy in their warm clothes. You may brave the blazing heat, but most people will stay in the AC.

Marriage goes through seasons. Families go through seasons. There is school season and football season and ski season. It doesn't take a PhD to understand that things work best when done in season. 

God is always fresh and in season. Today is a good day to get saved.

Times and Seasons

 "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven." Eccl.3:1

Our home Bible study will focus on this verse and the idea of Times and Seasons. I found something interesting about these two words. The word season is the Hebrew word translated as time; and the word time is the Hebrew word translated as season. A cursory search of the concordance tells me that these two words carry almost the same meaning.

A season is an appointed time. Time in general or time as a unit of time of various lengths or a season of time. The word translated season is only translated as season in this verse. Otherwise it is time. The word time is a commonly used word for time.

One idea that comes to my mind here is that there are certain things that the Holy Spirit does at certain times or in certain seasons. God follows His plan and directs His purpose perfectly. Just like you only get sweet corn or tomatoes at a certain time or in a particular season. There is a time and a season to everything God does.

Ecclesiastes goes on to tell us a long list of things that follow God's schedule. Miracles are when God steps out of time to change the circumstances  in a moment of time. Salvation happens according to God's time, not ours.

"For He says, in an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." 2Cor.6:2

The Dinosaurs

I saw the title of a video explaining what really happened to the dinosaurs. We have their fossils. But there are no dinosaurs on Earth today. Either the Flood theory s false, and evolution is true; or we misunderstand the flood.

I have a theory on what happened to the dinosaurs and to other creatures for which there is scientific proof that they used to live but are not here today. My theory is that not every creature made it onto Noah's ark. Those on board were there by couples, male and female. But that does not mean that every creature alive at that time was represented on the ark. Maybe the dinosaurs were too big. Maybe the dinosaurs were too slow. Maybe the dinosaurs were too evil and God kept them off the ark. But for whatever reason, no dinosaurs were on Noah's ark. I think God kept them off of the ark on purpose.

The Bible does not list by name or species every animal on the ark. There were enough so that in the process of time the Earth could once again be filled and subdued. 

The bible never claims to be a science book. It is a book about God. Who He is, how He works, what He does, and how we are to live in light of God. The gospel is good news to the great and the small, to the rich and the poor, to all nations and races and people. It is simple so that we have no excuse. Pride alone says it's not for me.

"So those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the Lord shut him in." Genesis 7:16