Tuesday Thoughts

 "I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;" Psalm 139:14

First, David the psalmist understood that he was made. Not evolved, not transitioned, but made. Evolution fails to describe and define the wonders just of the human body. We are not a scientific accident. We were designed by and formed by God in creation. His design has worked since the dawn of time. Do not be so arrogant as to think that you are smarter than God.

The more that I deal with doctors and medical professionals the more I understand how complex the human body is. We are triune beings with a body, a soul, and a spirit. Just the natural body boggles the mind. Everything is connected in our bodies. Everything is in balance throughout the multitude of physical systems the run our bodies. Doctors spend years of study and often years in practice and they still cannot explain everything that our bodies do naturally.

I think it is significant that Jesus, in his brief time ministering on Earth, spent a lot of time healing the sick. We, with modern technology, still need Jesus, through His church, to heal the sick.

"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to my Father." John 14:12

Interesting Thoughts

 I read something interesting today. First, I read that we as people tend to be tribal. We associate with groups of people with whom we feel safe and accepted. We give and receive mutual provision and mutual defense from enemies. The church provides that tribal experience in more ways than one. From the pastor to the young new convert, we have something in common that binds us together in love.

Another thing that I read today talked about people who expend emotional energy tied to outcomes that they cannot control. As you watch football on TV nothing that you do or say will effect the outcome on the field. Getting emotionally worked up over the weather is spending emotional energy on something that you cannot control. The only difference we have as followers of Jesus Christ is that we can spend spiritual energy through prayer and giving that can help those out on the front lines of evangelism to do their job well.

One last thought. We have topics of conservation that they call our default topics. That in social communication there are topics that we default to when we chat. Sports, the weather, politics, pastors. Notice that casual conversation is often about things that we have no control over. Maybe that's why we feel safe talking about these topics. Nothing that we say makes any difference.

I wonder if it is pride that motivates people to talk like experts about things we are not involved in.

Triune or Biune? What does the Bible say?

 There are religious groups who claim to be Christian who miss the mark when it comes to spiritual things. They do not believe in the supernatural or miracles or spiritual gifts or spiritual beings. They are more Sadducees than followers of Jesus Christ.

One thing that they miss the mark on is when they view people as only body and soul. They believe that soul and spirit are the same thing. They look down their nose at people like us who believe, based on scripture, that people are triune beings, consisting of body, soul, and spirit.

Lies often sound true at first. It is only upon examination that the error is unearthed.

God is triune consisting of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Three in One. Man is created in God's image so it is not a stretch to view man as a triune being. Three distinct parts of the whole man.

Beware getting your theology from YouTube.

Marriage Thoughts

 Statistics tell us that kids today are abstaining from marriage. This is a serious turn around from not too long ago when most adults were married. I thought that there must be something wrong with this generation that they are not getting married. Then I read these verses.

"His disciples said to Him, if such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry." Mat.19:10

"But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: it is good for them if they remain even as I am." 1Cor.7:8

Jesus said that in the beginning God created men and women to be married and to enjoy married life together. He said that divorce is due to heart hardness. Paul, who gave inspired words about marriage, encouraged new believers to remain single and to just serve the Lord Jesus. Forgoing marriage is not unique to this generation.

My prayer is that God will help our young people find one another in marriage and once found, that they will start families.

"He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord." Prov.18:22

I say amen!  God help our young men to be courageous in pursuing a wife and God help our young women to be enthusiastic about marriage and encouraging to our young men.

RIP Marc Rodriguez

 Marc Rodriguez went to his eternal reward recently. He tried to live but in the end he died. Everyone wants to go to be with Jesus, but no one wants to die. Marc fought his sickness and he did all that he could to survive. In the end, we all go down that mysterious path that leads from life to the other side of death.

Funerals are times for the survivors to remember the life of a friend. We will have a memorial service on Thursday December 11 at 7pm.  The Door in San Antonio.

"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." Psalm 116:15

Bible Prophecy

 There seems to be a conflict between God's sovereignty and man's free will. If God knows the end from the beginning then what difference does it make what we do. I have a way to understand this that works for me.

First, God is not limited by time and space. He does know the end from the beginning. God does guide us by the Holy Spirit to help us when we face decisions in life. And, as people we do have free will. We are created to make decisions and to make choices. We are not animals only guided by instinct. And God will hold us accountable for the decisions that we make. There is still a still, small voice that says to us, this is the way, walk in it.

Second, Bible prophecy does not depend on God orchestrating every minute detail of life to make His will come to pass. God knows how we think and He knows what motivates us. He sees the future after our choices have played out and the consequences of our decisions before we make the choice. He is God, not just a really smart man.

I think that prophecy is God going into the future and as it were taking a snapshot of how the world is then and showing it to prophets often without explanation or context. With some things we can change our ways and affect the outcome. Other times the issues is too important to let us mess it up. Either way, much of Bible prophecy tells us how the world will be in the future.

This is easy to understand in some aspects and impossible to understand in many regards. God's will will be done, and mankind is free to choose. This answers the seeming contradiction. This gives us hope that if we change today it can change our future tomorrow.

Church Kids

 Pastor Campbell preached an excellent message on church kids tonight. I won't give you his whole sermon here. But a couple of things stood out for me.

First, there are kids who have saved parents, and who grew up in one of our churches. But they reach their teen years and they leave church and act like sinners. Pastor says that these kids knew the language and knew the routine but they didn't know Christ. They knew right from wrong and they choose wrong. They were cultural Christians. They were Christian in name only. They may have been gifted, but they were never converted.

Second, pastor used the example of the Prodigal Son. Especially, he talked about the older brother. He played by the rules, and he was arrogant in his self examination. He put in the time and did what he was told and evidently that was all that he did. This son lived in the father's house, but he did not have the father's heart. 

Being born again is more than joining a church or getting into ministry. All things become new. It is a miracle of a new heart and a new mind. It causes us to serve God no matter what. Being born again in 1973 still is working in my life in 2025. You must be born again to even see the kingdom of God.