Children of Captivity

 

In reading this morning I came across a simple but profound verse:

Ezra 6:19 - And the children of the captivity kept the passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month.

There was a generation that reaped what they had sown and were carried off to Babylon in chains as God had decreed. But there were also children who were removed, such as Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. There were also children born in Babylon, who only knew of prior days by oral history, and were left hoping and dreaming that perhaps one day they would see with their eyes God's promised land. The God who promised the land at also promised a return after seventy years were completed.

Jeremiah 29:10 - For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

And though there was a generation that was punished, their children, the children of the captivity, were brought back into the land of promise and worshipped the God who kept the promises!

There is hope for us, in that while we ourselves may have been captive by sins or have reaped bitter seed, our children, the children of our captivity, may have opportunity to enjoy spiritual freedom from sins and consequences we did not!

This requires intentionality on our part, rejecting the influences and avoiding the same traps that led to our captivity. This means protecting and shielding where others may not, trading away good things for best things. This requires us dutifully nurturing and admonishing biblically while the world runs from what is good and right. 

To see our children one day as children of captivity instead of children in captivity... will be worth it all.

CRC

Give Me A Convenient Time, Jesus

What a powerful Scripture. Observe:

Paul preached toward the mind and heart of Felix. He "reasoned," which means that he discussed thoroughly in discussion or argumentation. Felix was brought to the point of understanding. Paul preached the Scriptures, and three things of note, righteousness (salvation!), temperance, (a fruit of the Spirit for the believer!), and judgment to come (Eternal Life and Death!).

Having taught these things thoroughly in progression and balance, there was a response from Felix: he "trembled." There is no person above the conviction of the truth. Nobody. His response was fear, because he understood what was before him was no myth or empty man-made system, it was of God.

Yet, the grace of God toward Felix was not irresistible. And, he asked for more time, a more "convenient season." If you have read this far you have been where Felix is. We have all been there. Perhaps in the area of salvation, or obedience prompted by the person of the Holy Spirit, or when admonished to do more for the Eternal Kingdom. From our hearts and out our lips we speak to the Creator and Saviour of the world "not now, later."

I finish simply with this: there may not be later for us, friend. There may not be a time more "convenient" for you, brother or sister. We read in the next two verses that the heart of Felix was turned toward mammon and personal advantage. We do not know if Felix found his "convenient season." We do not know if we will be offered by grace an additional "convenient season."

If the Lord Jesus Christ is not your Saviour, then today is the day to believe. If you are a born-again child of God, then today is the day to obey your King.

#meditate #meditatelonger #meditatedeeper #searchtheScriptures

Curse The Darkness... Or Penetrate It

I don't know how many times I have heard the saying, "did you see on Facebook?" Usually, the quote is reserved for slapstick, scandal, or cat memes. Lately, however, I've been encouraged, and I want to encourage you also to see that Facebook and social media in general CAN BE a WONDERFUL TOOL for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We Christians can be guilty of identifying anything that is new or different as inherently evil. Though we don't have any sort of biblical reasoning to bring us to this conclusion, we feel that it is safer (or worse, more "spiritual") to avoid change. There is wisdom in pausing to pray and consider the profitability of a thing, but to utterly dismiss it on the grounds of being different than what I am used to is folly.

Another problem we face is the notion that because somebody's cousin is using (in this case) social media in a poor way then we should abstain from it. I have heard from some second amendment heralds these sentiments:

"Guns don't kill people, people kill people,"and "Social media creates so many problems, I don't think Christians should be using it."

Consider the statements and the inconsistent thought processes. Social media doesn't create problems. People create problems. 

We can in this instance curse the darkness or penetrate it. Why don't we instead purpose to use the tools before us to further the gospel, give glory to God whenever opportunity presents itself, and keep our friends and followers tuned in to what great things are going on in our church, or what prayer needs exist? Why not encourage and edify instantly and for free? 

The collage above is a small representation of the good things I have seen in the past week, specifically with the advent of Facebook Live, a live-streaming (imagine that!) service to the world's largest audience. 

1) Recently, Pastor Todd Bell of Calvary Baptist in Sanford, Maine, began using Facebook Live in the mornings at 6a for a short, encouraging devotional. We can be challenged!

2) Pastor David Peterman of Breakwater Baptist in Rockland, Maine, gave us a tour of the facility God has provided for their church. We can give God the glory for that!

3) Pastor Josh Lovelace, of Truth Baptist in Jefferson told us of an evangelistic opportunity through a little league baseball barbecue! We need to pray for him!

4) We at South Liberty promoted our Vacation Bible School through this and the Elisha Cabin Prophet's Chamber ministry. And, no, I'm not dressed as a Blue Pope. 

These four recent examples are small yet powerful demonstrations as to what could be done, perhaps instead of the vain and unprofitable uses which are often found. Ahem... cat memes...

And, while we're in the vein of vain... Pastor Mike Britt of Topsham Baptist offered this counsel for we Facebook Live users: 

PSA: This is a public service announcement: I know Facebook lets people go live now, and that's great. I might take...
Posted by Michael Britt on Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Onward and upward.

A Follow Up To Evil Beards

This morning I published a post which was nothing more than raw meditation from my Bible reading. A friend, noticing it, shared from the blog a different article written better than two and a half years ago about facial hair and its "evils." As of this moment, the old, truly uninspiring and shallow piece has nearly twelve thousand views. Now, for me, that's viral.

To put this in perspective numerically, I had less than 1700 views for the entire blog previously, and the blog itself was more or less a workshop for my young pastoral mind. I shudder at some of the things written in those old posts, but we must grow.

Beyond statistics, there is much to see, and here are a 3 things I have observed:

1) There are a group of people who got "it." The article was dry humor, and as I remember, more or less a response to the idea that preachers should be clean shaven. A preference, for sure, but in no wise a Scriptural law. Please don't impose your preferences on others for "righteousness sake." Eek.

2) There is a segment of people, and I don't know how large or what percentage, who draw conclusions at a glance. Proverbs 15:28 would be a good help to all of us who at times and places draw quick conclusions that we later regret. Kudos to those who recognized their error and recanted.

3) The "viral" nature (is there a proper "viral" definition? At what point does a piece become viral?) of the article is due to its perceived content. It, if it had indeed been an article championing the cause of clean-shavedness, would have incited great debate -over an extreme peripheral. Which is also interesting because the article demonstrated the author's point, at least the one in his mind; that is, we have deep affection toward the never-ending carnival of peripherals. By peripheral I mean that which the Bible speaks little to nothing about when compared to the greater, deeper questions (and answers!) of life and God.

So what about you? Is whether a man dons a beard truly a matter worth investing your precious God-given life's energy? The mark of a Pharisee in Jesus day was his ability to judge the appearance of something, yet Jesus said as recorded in John 7:24, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."

There was a time in my life where the peripherals and issues were captivating, but I am not interested in being their captive these days. There are greater things to tend to. May the Lord give us wisdom to see what matters before us truly matter.

Thou God Seest Me

This morning I spent time reading in Genesis, from chapters 12 through 16.

The Lord's involvement, investment, and intervention is so clear in the life of Abram. He guides him, instructs him, yet allowing him to make mistakes along the way from which we still feel the consequences today.

Hagar, for example. The Lord affirms His covenant with Abram in the most serious way yet, through an Eastern ritual in which the Lord essentially says, "I will die if I do not keep my covenant with you." As God is eternal and holy, separate from sin and its effects, He cannot die and thus the covenant is sure. This covenant takes place after a victorious battle in which Lot is saved, Abram rejects the spoils of war offered by the king of Sodom and the priest of the most high God, Melchizedek, subsequently blesses Abram by God. Abram's outlook on life at that moment had to be wonderful!

Sarai, however, must have not "seen the light" as Abram did. She must have felt a great deal of pressure as the covenant and the blessings of it hinged upon the birth of a child -at least one- and she was past the age of child-bearing. She saw no reasonable or earthly way by which the Lord would bring about these promises and as such she intervened. By offering Hagar to Abraham, perhaps the promises of God would then be realized and enjoyed. It did not work so well as intended. Hagar, probably feeling used to accomplish Sarai's ends, would not have been keen on the idea, but as a servant had no other choice. She conceived immediately, which was a stark contrast to Sarai's barrenness and she despised Sarai. Understandably so. Sarai in turn despises Hagar and complains to Abram, who in turn delegates the responsibility to make a decision to Sarai.

Sarai deals harshly with Hagar, probably driving her to tears and certainly driving her away. When driven away, Sarai may have felt relief, that she had solved the problem. Abram may have even hoped that things could "return to normal." Yet, they both forgot that the Lord had promised to Abram to bless his seed, and even to multiply his seed. And, as God is no respecter of persons, the promise would apply indiscriminately to Abram's seed, including Ishmael.

The angel of the Lord (a Christophany here) came to Hagar, instructed her to return, blessed her and even named the child for her, "Ishmael," which means "God will hear." She then gives a name to God, calling Him "thou God seest me." An interesting transaction, to say the least. The whole event is thought-provoking! Here are a few of mine:

1) God loved Hagar and Ishmael, though Sarai did not.
2) God involved, invested and intervened when Abram would not.
3) A conceived life is a precious life, as God gave a name to Ishmael and made promises to him before he was born.
4) When we name our children, we do so often by looking for a name with a meaning. The names of God reveal to us His nature and character, do we know what those names mean?
5) Our actions which are a contradiction to the will of God may have far-reaching impacts.
6) God saw Hagar and tended to her when all seemed hopeless for her. As a servant with an "illegitimate" child, she had no rights and could expect nothing but impoverishment, enslavement, starvation, or certain death. Yet God saw her.

God is good, all the time.