Blog Diyiin Bi

No, the title of this article is not paranoia, it states a fact. You see, every one of us, whether we like the idea of it or not, are leaders. That means someone is watching us, and will imitate what we do – whether we do good, or whether we do bad. It might be our friends, our younger brothers and sisters, our cousins – and even, sometimes, someone way older than we are. Those of us who are parents know that our kids will follow every bad example we set! (Wouldn’t it be great if they were as quick to follow the good examples we set?) And often, we will not know who is watching us.

Every one of us probably knows of someone who died unexpectedly and tragically. When a person is 98 years old, their death is not unexpected; but when someone who is 19 years old or 9 years old dies, that person’s death is unexpected and tragic. You see, though, not one of us is promised another breath. God could call us to our eternal reward at any moment.

Can you think of anything more tragic than dying without having made things right with God? I can’t, either. But I can think of something that would make dying without God more horrible. Imagine finding yourself in hell because you kept saying no to God, and then died. To make it worse, you look around and see people who are there because they followed your example! How horrible! Maybe you say that you don’t care what happens to other people. Well, according to the Bible, if you end up in hell, you will care. Let’s see what God’s Word says about it:

Luke 16:19 – 31: There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: (20) And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, (21) And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. (22) And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; (23) And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. (24) And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. (25) But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. (26) And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. (27) Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: (28) For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. (29) Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. (30) And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. (31) And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

The rich man suddenly felt called to be an evangelist in verse 27! Unfortunately, it was a bit too late for him. But if you are reading this, it is not too late for you.

The Bible is full of warnings about making things right with God, and doing so as soon as possible. 2 Corinthians 6:2b tells us, “…behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” The prophet Elijah, in 1 Kings 18:21, asked the Children of Israel, “How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.”

So, if you have not yet made things right with God, NOW is the time. Don’t delay – you can be born again no matter where you are, no matter what time it is, as long as you still have breath to pray. See the blog post What must I do to be saved? for how to be born again. Someone you love might be following in your footsteps. Don’t lead them to hell!

in His service,
Pastor Marv

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• Be Ye Holy

How many times have we had a period of time when things went horribly wrong? Maybe you lost your job. Maybe a loved one died. Maybe you or someone close to you was injured, or diagnosed with some terrible disease. Maybe…but the list could go on seemingly forever.

All of us have, at one time or another, experienced bad things in our lives. So how do we deal with it?

Let’s see what Jesus said to His disciples when they were going through a storm – literally!

Mark 4:35-40:
And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. (36) And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. (37) And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. (38) And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? (39) And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. (40) And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? {King James version}

There are three ways we can react when the storms of life hit us. Let’s briefly examine these.

I. Why me, Lord?
Often, when trouble strikes, we have a pity party. You know, saying things like, “I can’t believe that God would allow this to happen to me! Doesn’t He know I can’t handle it? I think I’ll just go back to my old sinful life if this is what being a Christian is all about!”

This attitude comes from a lack of faith in God, and also from an attitude that says, “Me! Me! Me!” James 1:2 says, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations.” The word translated “temptations” does not mean “enticement to sin,” but rather, “adversity.” So God expects us to be happy when things go wrong? No, joy and happiness are two different things. Joy is a delight of the mind, from the consideration of the present or assured approaching possession of a good. Happiness is the agreeable sensations which spring from the enjoyment of good. In other words, joy comes from knowing that good will result from the trial; happiness comes from finally experiencing that result.

Someone who has the “why me” attitude will live a life of defeat. They will go from one failure to another, always making excuses why they can’t do this or can’t do that. And usually, the first such “can’t do” is “can’t give tithes and offerings.” Another that soon follows is “can’t come to prayer meeting on Thursday night,” followed by “can’t come Wednesday night,” “can’t come Sunday night, “ “can’t come to Sunday School,” and “can’t come to Sunday Morning Worship service.” And when the trumpet sounds, the dead in Christ rise first, and then we which are alive and remain are caught up, there will be one more “can’t come!”

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

II. Where are you, Lord?
When adversity strikes, we might react like the disciples in this passage from Mark 4 that we just read. “Don’t you care what happens to me, Lord? I’m going through this trial and you are sleeping!”

Sometimes, though, the reason that it might seem God doesn’t care is because we disobeyed Him and went our own way. He will allow us to do that, but He really isn’t asleep or on vacation, He is waiting for us to confess our sin and turn to Him. He didn’t go anywhere, we did!

Other times, it might seem that He doesn’t care because we are so close to the problem we can’t see how He will lead us through it. A little poem that someone wrote in a friend’s high school yearbook says, “As you amble on through life and strive to meet your goal, Keep your eye upon the donut, not upon the hole.” If all we see is the hole, we will starve! But if we look at the donut, we see God’s provision for us.

III. Thank you, Lord!
This is the way we should react to trials. When God allows a trial of some sort to afflict us, He is, in effect, telling us, “I know that you have put your faith and trust in Me. Now, I want you to grow even more!”

Have you ever watched a football game? The players in the game didn’t get strong, fast, and skillful by living a life of ease. They practiced, worked out, and struggled for years. An Olympic weightlifter didn’t get those bulging muscles by working out with a couple of feathers. A swimming champion didn’t learn to swim by relaxing in a bubble bath. And we Christians won’t grow strong in faith if we never face problems.

The mistake that the disciples made was not believing Jesus when He said, “Let us pass over unto the other side.” He didn’t say, “Let us try to pass over to the other side!” If He had added that one word, “try,” then maybe the disciples would have been justified in being afraid. But when God calls us to do something, He will ALWAYS provide a way for us to accomplish the mission.

So when problems come, what should we do? First, call on God: not to remove the problem from us, but to see us through the problem. Second, call on our brothers and sisters in Christ for prayer, encouragement, and maybe even some advice.

And third, as James 1:4 says, “But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

God bless you,
Pastor Marv

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• Faith, Fact, and Fiction

Webster, in the 1828 edition of his dictionary, defines truth as “Conformity to fact or reality; exact accordance with that which is, or has been, or shall be.”

In 1916, 88 years after this edition of the dictionary was published, Einstein published his General Theory of Relativity. It turned the scientific world upside down, changing forever the way we see our universe. So did Einstein’s Theory change the definition of truth? Does it mean that all truth is relative?

How you answer those questions depends on your world view. If the observable universe is all that exists, then you can make a case for all truth being relative.

Or can you…?

Let’s examine that statement, “All truth is relative.” This philosophy is currently being applied to everything from science to moral values. The generation of the 60’s said it this way: “If it feels good, do it!” In other words, it’s only wrong if you believe it to be wrong.

Or, yet another way to say it is this: “What is truth for you is not necessarily truth for me.” If you follow this line of reasoning to its logical end, you will come to the absurd conclusion that it is an absolute truth is that there is no absolute truth.

How can you be sure that there is no absolute truth unless you know EVERYTHING? If there is something that you don’t know, just one tiny tidbit that is outside of your body of knowledge, maybe that tidbit is an Absolute Truth…even if, among all of the bits and pieces of knowledge that you do possess, you can find no absolute truth. So, unless you really do know everything, there is no way that you can honestly claim that there is no absolute truth. And if you do know everything, then your all-encompassing body of knowledge would, in and of itself, be Absolute Truth against which all other truth would be measured!

So, is there anyone who does possess absolute, total, all-encompassing knowledge?

YES! Jesus Christ said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)

How can He make such a seemingly outrageous claim? Because He is the Creator, the Eternal and Omniscient God, who became flesh. “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us”. (John 1:14a)

Only One who is all-knowing (omniscient=all-knowing) could make the claim that He is Truth. Not just that He knows all truth, but that He IS truth. And He proved His claim by rising from the dead.

So, to answer the questions posed in the opening sentences of this article: no, Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity did NOT change the definition of truth. No, all truth is NOT relative. What the scientific theory did was to change the way we perceive some truths.

But truth is still truth. The Bible tells me so.

in His service,
Pastor Marv

Webster’s 1828 Dictionary is part of e-Sword

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• Is there really a God?

(Read Genesis 18:1-14)

Genesis 18:14 KJV Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

Imagine an old man sitting in the shade provided by the door of his tent. It is hot, much like the weather we have this time of the year, and the invention of air conditioning is still nearly 4,000 years in the future.

Then, when the old man looks up, there are three men standing there. There is no indication that they had been riding any animals, and nothing indicates that they walked from anywhere – they just appeared.

So who were these three visitors? Abraham knew that they were important, and most likely sent by God with a message for him, but apparently did not know at first that one of them was God. He called Him “Lord,” but the Hebrew word translated as “Lord” is also used for important humans, such as a king. However, after the three visitors had finished their meal, the Lord said something that caused Abraham to know exactly who He was. In verse 10, the Lord said that He would return and that Sarah would have a child. Only God could bring that about – Sarah was not only well past child-bearing age, but when she was young, she had been barren. So she laughed within herself.

It must have strengthened Sarah’s faith when the Lord asked why she had laughed, because, as the Bible records it, she “laughed within herself” and even Abraham had not heard her. So if someone knew that she was laughing – and remember, not only was her laughter unheard by anyone, but she was also out of sight – then that person must indeed be at least an angel sent by God, if not God Himself!

24 years before the events recorded in this chapter, Abram had been called by God to go to a land that God would show him. So, acting in faith, he obeyed God. On several occasions, God had appeared to him and renewed His promise that Abram would be the father of many nations. And in chapter 17, just a short time before the events of this chapter, God had not only renewed His promise, but had also changed Abram’s and Sarai’s names to Abraham and Sarah.

Now, once again, God will renew His promise – but this time, with a difference. He was very specific about when Isaac would be born. Always before, there had been nothing to indicate when the promise would be fulfilled, just the promise that Abraham’s seed would be like the dust of the earth and the stars of the heavens.

How do we know that God is powerful enough to do miracles? I’m glad you asked!

First, we serve a God Who called the entire universe into existence with just His spoken Word. This is a stumbling block for many people today. Modern so-called science denies that there have ever been any miracles at all. There is absolutely no room in evolutionary belief for a God Who can do miracles.

Second, we serve a God Who loves and cares about us. This is evident by the fact that He has given us His Word, the Bible, so that we may know about Him. It is evident by the fact that He gave His only begotten Son, the Living Word, to die in our place.

Third, we serve a God Who desires that we have a part in His unfolding plan. If God did not want us to have a part in His plan, He would simply take us to Heaven the moment we were saved. But we have work to do! Every one of us has something to which God has called us. It might be that He has called us to be a truck driver, or a silversmith, or a Sunday school teacher, or a pastor, but the one thing that is absolutely certain is that God HAS called each one of us to serve Him.

Fourth, we serve a God Who desires to have fellowship with us. He desires our sincere worship, and He alone is worthy of receiving our praise, honor, and worship. We are admonished to give thanks to God in every situation. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 KJV “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

Pastor Marv

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