A Conquerable Great Divide
Thank You, Father, for answered prayers. When we had no answers, You provided one. And as was Your creation, it was good! All praise to You!
Acts 2: 42-47 (<<click here to read the passage)
Many, if not all, of us, have people in our lives that we would do absolutely anything for. Most often they are those who are closest to us – parents, children, siblings, and other family. They can be our closest friends, as well. We’d give them the shirt off our back if we were asked to.
Some of us are very generous with many of our resources – time, money, energy, effort. We eagerly give whatever is needed to help those less fortunate than we. But I would dare say, that even in those circumstances, there are limits.
In the earliest days of the Church, there didn’t seem to be any limits. Verses 44-45 state very clearly,
And all those who had believed [in Jesus as Savior] were together and had all things in common [considering their possessions to belong to the group as a whole]. And they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing the proceeds with all [the other believers], as anyone had need. AMP (emphasis mine)
When I read this passage a couple of days ago, the phrase that came to mind was the great divide that would have existed. Those who accepted the lordship of Jesus Christ in their lives during this initial time, I’m sure, were a cross-section of society – from the wealthiest to the dregs of society…masters down to the slaves they owned.
At least at this time they “had all things in common”. Can you imagine? It’s difficult, to say the least, to do so. But the Holy Spirit’s infilling was complete in them all and they were not driven by a greed to succeed but by God’s great love – His for us, us for Him, and that naturally ran over into love for one another! No strings attached generosity and hand in hand with it would have been genuine gratitude and humility from both the givers and the receivers. The key is that both giving and receiving were done totally in the Spirit!
…and that is where our problem lies today. There are those on both sides, if you will, who give or receive in the Spirit, but both get burnt by those who give or receive with only their hearts in mind. God doesn’t really factor in at all.
But should that great possibility stop us? How many of us hesitate to give to the needy for fear of being taken advantage of? How many hesitate to receive for fear of becoming indebted in some way or another to the giver?
Some years ago, my one church decided to take action with a progressive mindset. The church building sits on a main highway, and it was not unusual for needy travelers to stop and ask for assistance. Often, they were on their way to or coming back from a family funeral that was out of state and they were out of the funds they needed to get there.
We decided to purchase gift cards for a specific gas brand that had stations both north and south of us. They would be able to buy gas or basic foodstuffs as needed. Of course, there was always the possibility that they would be ripping us off and would by things we wouldn’t approve of, but the leadership decided that we would do what was right and allow God to address the rest. They would not have to answer to us, but they would have to answer to Him.
Lord Jesus, help us to be generous. It may be difficult to have all things in common but by no means we should not be willing to give of whatever resources we might have. And may we be generous for Your glory and not our own. Amen.
Jan 13th, 2022, Thurs, 7:02 pm
Always in a Hurry
Father, I would ask for Your watchcare over us this evening. You alone know what the future holds. We place ourselves into Your almighty arms. Amen.
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It seems that much of life around us is always in a hurry – to our detriment. A case in point:
This morning I traveled down a county road to pick up a student. First of all, my 15-ton bus is heading south, and a car is heading north. As we are about ready to pass one another a squirrel ran across the road. It wasn’t one of those run-stop-and-go-the-other-way kind of things, but the squirrel just flew at top speed and didn’t slow down in the slightest…at least not initially.
The squirrel cleared the car’s tires and I saw it dash toward the bus but was unable to see if it cleared my tires, too. That is until I did my turnaround and headed back north. The squirrel had cleared the driver’s side tire…but unfortunately, it didn’t clear the right front tire. 15-tons of bus pressing down on one tire doesn’t bode well for a squirrel that was in too much of a hurry for its own good.
Regrettably, we often do the same thing. How many drivers take irresponsible risks while on the road? Weaving in and out of traffic, pulling out in front of others so that others have to hit their brakes, rolling stops at stop signs and lights, etc., etc. It would be an insurmountable task for one person to keep tabs!
There are too many things in life that we fly by, many times without a second thought. But much to our chagrin, life can come to a screeching halt. Either our lives end or the lives of others, near and dear to our hearts, come to an end before we’ve done or said what we wanted to do…or even worse maybe, what we needed to do.
A couple of verses that we should take to heart,
Whatever you do, do well. For when you go to the grave, there will be no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom. Ecclesiastes 9:10 NLT
Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. James 4:17 NLT
Lord Jesus, help us to slow it down, for we know what tomorrow may bring. May we focus on what is truly important and not just expediency. Amen.
Jan 12th, 2002, Wed, 6:35 pm
A Cross to Bridge the Great Divide
Come, let us worship and bow down.
….Let us kneel before the Lord our maker,
….for he is our God.
We are the people he watches over,
….the flock under his care. Psalm 95:6-7 NLT
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Today has been full and a bit hectic, so as I slipped into a pair of lounge pants and an old sweatshirt to sit and write, weariness has overtaken me.
As I read through the next passage of Scripture, a thread of thought came to me. But at the same time, a title popped into my head, a song by the same title did also.
The song is The Great Divide made popular in the mid-90s by the group Point of Grace. I love their music! A few years later, I had the pleasure of singing in a mixed trio with two talented ladies from my church. This is one of the songs we sang and, believe it or not, we sang it in the same key as the ladies from Point of Grace! Back then, I could sing quite a bit higher than I do now. (I was serving as Children’s Pastor at the time, and our well-versed Minister of Music, Virginia Cameron, noticed the kids were struggling when singing with me. She suggested that I needed to sing an octave higher – where children naturally sing – and voila! – it worked! Needless to say, it stretched my tenor voice quite a bit!)
Regardless, this is still a powerful song. One outstanding portion of the lyrics is inverted in the chorus and drives home a great message. The chorus begins with,
There’s a bridge to cross the great divide
And ends with,
There’s a cross to bridge the great divide
I read somewhere that it was an unintentional typo initially, but it sure preaches, and they left it the way it was.
Enjoy this lyric video as sung by Point of Grace!
Jan 11th, 2022, Tues, 8:11 pm
More than We Can Handle?
Thank You, Father, for the wherewithal to get through so much in my preparation for Sunday’s service. Even in the middle of the demands of life, You enabled me to focus on important things, and manage some not-so-important things as well.
Acts 2:37-41 (<<click here to read the passage)
Karen, who teaches 1st Grade, has had as many as 24 students in her classroom to handle on her own, striving to motivate them to learn and grow throughout an entire day. Currently, she has 18, which is lower than usual, but she still has her hands full.
Before Massey was born, she taught music at a Christian school in the Columbus area. She had individual classes of manageable numbers but when they were combined for Christmas programs, she had well over 300 students with which to work (and did an absolutely marvelous job, by the way!)
At present, I could have as many as 42 elementary students on my bus, give or take a few. My bus is designed to seat 72 if I had three in every seat! At that point, I would imagine things would get a little crazier than they already are some days! (Some of our drivers have quite a few more students than I do.)
Keep in mind, the majority of our buses (except for pre-school and special needs routes) have one lone adult – the driver! So, we are managing X-number of students while driving a multi-ton vehicle over hill and dale, in all kinds of weather. We also have to contend with the inpatient drivers of other vehicles, deer crossings, potentially fallen limbs, and occasionally wandering livestock, just to name off a few of the extra challenges we have! But we do it every day!
When we read verse 41 of today’s passage, it is quite astonishing!
So then, those who accepted his message were baptized; and on that day about 3,000 souls were added [to the body of believers]. AMP
That is absolutely awesome! But…the situation in which those in leadership found themselves was to train up 3,000 people in the teachings and mindset of Jesus, the Messiah.
Acts 1:15 tells us that there were about 120 believers gathered in an upper room when the Holy Spirit came upon them at Pentecost. With a group that size, I’m sure there would have been a wide variety of talents and abilities. Equally, there would probably not have been an even dispersion of Biblical training among them – and remember at that time their “Bible” would only have included what we would consider the Old Testament. Some would have followed Jesus, heard His teachings, and seen Him work amongst the people, from the beginning while others more than likely came along as time passed.
Even if you divided the 3000 evenly amongst the 120 that would have been 24 people apiece. From a strictly human standpoint, it would have been nigh impossible, but in and through the Holy Spirit it was accomplished! And in just a few short days, with a further proclamation on Peter’s part, the number of men who believed…totaled about 5,000! (Acts 4:4) And the Holy Spirit still worked in their midst and great things were accomplished on behalf of the Kingdom!
Though we often do, followers of Christ really should pay no heed to the word impossible, and we think some situations are more than we can handle. If we are in line with God’s will, there is certainly nothing that cannot be done!
Jan 10th, 2022, Mon, 7:23 pm
Cut to the Heart
Come, let us sing to the Lord!
….Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come to him with thanksgiving.
….Let us sing psalms of praise to him. Psalm 95:1-2 NLT
Acts 2:37-41 (<<click here to read the passage)
When I preach, I try to be careful. I, first of all, want to be sensitive to what the Lord wants me to communicate. And I also strive to not make my sermons too lengthy. I always format my sermons to a font of a certain type and size (I don’t have to be able to see it quite a bit above the pulpit!) Another thing that helps in my ability to see my sermon is I use 1.5 line spacing. I find that it’s easier to not lose my place. (I single space Scripture because I read it word for word.)
So, all in all, with that layout, my sermons are usually 7-8 pages long. Sometimes they’ll get up to 9 pages, but not too often.
One thing that I never worry about is if I happen to have a lot more passages of Scripture than normal. My philosophy is that directly using God’s words has a greater impact on the hearts and minds of my listeners than anything I might add!
After Peter’s sermon, which by the way was full of Old Testament Scripture and was divinely inspired by his being filled with the Holy Spirit, his words pierced his listeners’ hearts (NLT). The Amplified Bible says they were cut to the heart. v37a
Hebrews 4:12 has this to say about God’s word,
For the word of God is living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective]. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as the division of the soul and spirit [the completeness of a person], and of both joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart. AMP
That passage is brought to life in today’s passage! It pierced them and caused them to exclaim to Peter and the other disciples, “Brothers, what should we do?” v37b NLT
I will let Peter’s response speak for itself,
“Repent [change your old way of thinking, turn from your sinful ways, accept and follow Jesus as the Messiah] and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ because of the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise [of the Holy Spirit] is for you and your children and for all who are far away [including the Gentiles], as many as the Lord our God calls to Himself.” v38-39
We can feel impacted by God’s word, but we can’t leave it at that. We must act! Just pulling a few words from the Amplified Bible points to action – repent – change – turn – accept – follow!
God’s word must motivate us! We can’t leave it at, “Ow! That hurt! Oof! Man, that stepped on my toes! Ugh! That cut ran deep!”
It may sound pretty silly but staying where we are doesn’t get us anywhere! We have to move! We have to go! We have to do! Those actions don’t save us – only Jesus’ actions can do that! – but those actions reflect that action on our hearts, souls, and minds!
Jesus, move us! Amen!
Jan 9th, 2022, Sun, 6:49 pm