STRETCH YOUR SOUL (2nd in Series)

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Yes, men sell their soul to the Devil and give their soul to God.

Which is why each of us think about our souls and that quite often.  We want to profit our souls by prayer and listening to the Word and thinking on godly thoughts and not shrinking our souls because we have put them on the back burner.  A heavenly nutrition program is one way of putting it.

There are always trials and tribulations.

He was neither a preacher nor a theologian with countless degrees, but his was a soul that knew God on a first name basis.  It is why when all four of Horatio Spafford’s daughters perished at sea, he still was able to write a hymn so many of us have sung, and more than once.

   “When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,

   When sorrows, like sea-billows, roll;

   Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,

   It is well, it is well, with my soul.”

CHRISTIANITY BY REFLEX (Last in series)

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It is not enough to admire Jesus, however extravagantly; or worship him, however devoutly; but to follow him, which is after all is all he asks us to do.  If it can be said that his standards are too high and cannot be attained, there still remains the undimmed glory of the quest.

Would you give yourself to a quest that has the strength of eternity in it?  Then remember that “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”  (Matthew 4:4)

It is a basic truth.  If you give yourself to the cheap, the tawdry and the worthless; you cannot help but become cheap, tawdry and worthless yourself.

I firmly believe that there is something high and holy in every man or woman until in a short, or sometimes more lengthy period of time, each kills it in themselves.

Shout too many curses and too few prayers and slowly but surely your soul will shrivel and began to die.

I was ordained in 1954 and in all the years since that privileged moment I have seen a lot of bad but I have also seen a lot of good.

I have seen a host of folk redeemed, whom it seemed were beyond redemption.

Changed, though most around them would have said it could never happen.

For often, though not often enough, someone catches the spark of the Nazarene.

And catches on fire.

And a heart dedicated to hate trades in this miserable sickness for love.

And a member of the male gender becomes…

A father redeemed by the love of God and loves his children with like- minded patience and love.

And becomes a loving husband

And lives each day more and more as a child of God.

And a member of the female gender becomes…

A mother worthy of the name, and blessed is the child who is the recipient thereof.

And becomes a loving wife

And lives each day more and more as a child of God.

IF THIS BE MADNESS, this thinking of other people before yourself and of God often and well.  Then follow such madness for there is the hope of heaven in it.

It is certainly better than spending your life

trying to get all you can, keep all you can and let the other fellow get by as best he can.

To every person who lives as if they believe that Christianity and Christ teachings are madness…I say, “If this be madness then perhaps we should double check our definition of sanity.” 

Yes, I tell you this…my friends…you name me most of the pain and problems that you know of today and I will tell you that a tremendous, overwhelming percentage of them have come from breaking God’s commandments.

IT MAY BE MADNESS to imagine a world in which our noble thoughts have been translated into noble deeds. 

It may be madness to imagine a world no longer selfish, or foolish, or temperamental, or angry, or doubting or sinful. 

But if this be madness, then perhaps we should pray that everyone go mad.

Do you know what our greatest problem is?  We are addicts.  Addicted to compromise.  Why?  Because it is easier than taking a stand.

“Because thou art lukewarm, I will spew the out of my mouth” says the Bible.

And we in reply give the excuse “But I can’t stand the heat.”

We are a strange breed; mankind.  We will organize and sacrifice and drive ourselves with an incessant urge to win wars against enemies from without; but we will not exert half the effort to defeat the enemies from within. 

If we used half the dedication to win the battle of the soul we would come out such victors on the field of living that it would be difficult to believe.  But we don’t.

We battled in Europe and Vietnam and Korea and Iraq and are still battling in Afghanistan.  But the battle on the fields of eternity?  That battle I fear too often we fight as if we are trying to lose it.

 

THE GALILEE GALLERY (2nd in series)

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To better understand Jesus and the earthly world in which He lived,

it is important to know those around Him.

SIMEON (Luke 11:25)

Israel had for too long a time been under one domineering rule after the other and SIMEON, like other devout Jews was earnestly waiting for the coming of the Messiah.

The prophets had been quite specific. Malachai had said it would happen before the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Daniel had laid out an exact place and time of arrival. Micah named Bethlehem and Isaiah predicted a virgin birth.

" ... Let me not see death until I have looked upon the Deliverer," Simeon prayed, and his prayer was answered. Guidance came in a vision, and thus it was that he entered the Temple the day the infant Jesus was brought there by Mary and Joseph.

In his heart there was no doubt and so he "took him in his arms" and with great fervor blessed God. He was ready now to die, "Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation •.."

JOHN THE BAPTIST (John 1:6)

Zechariah, a Temple priest, and Elizabeth were old and childless when the angel Gabriel promised a son would be born of them -JOHN. Since Elizabeth and Mary, mother of Jesus, were cousins, John and Jesus were cousins.

Few would argue that John the Baptist was anything but a lonely man, wandering alone in the wilderness as he did. It was a journey he made early on in his life as a way to purification. He had followers from every quarter, but to those who wondered if he were the Messiah, he said, "I am not the Christ but I am sent ahead of Him."

It was this John who baptized Jesus when He was thirty years old. And all gathered there heard John say, "Behold the lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world." It was a prophecy and proclamation of which he had no doubt.

After the baptism a voice boomed from afar, "This is my son in whom I am well pleased." The mission of the man, John, ended. The mission of another who was both the Son of Man and the Son of God...began.

STRETCH YOUR SOUL (1)

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STRETCH YOUR SOUL

There is a story often told about Martin Luther, the Father of our Protestant faith, of how he had been moping about for more days and nights than were good for him and those around him.

Finally, his wife appeared one morning dressed totally in black. “Katherine,” he asked, “Why are you dressed as if in mourning?”

“Someone has died,” she replied.

“Why have I not heard? Who was it?” asked Luther

“It seems,” his wife responded, “that God must have died.”

Luther got the point.

No, God is not dead, but we must be alive to that fact.  Stretch our souls in the workout room of the spirit.  Because a soul flabby from lack of use cannot bear the burdens that inevitably come to all of us.

 

If someone were to ask you, “What is my soul?”  How would you answer?  Your soul?  Oh, you could give the dictionary description, “the immaterial essence of an individual life.”  But that’s about as satisfactory an answer as feeding on boiled cardboard or fried cellophane.

So then “What is the soul?”

Well, first and foremost, it is the eternal you.  It is not captive to the calendar by any way or means.

It is like a great ear as it reacts to all it hears from sources here on earth and from the heaven-sent voice of God.

It has muscles in the sense that if not used it shrivels and almost dies.  I say almost because it is never too late for a man or woman to begin a workout program for this most important part of our being.

Secondly, one very special quality of our souls, they are color blind.  For all our earthly foolishness, ultimately we are brothers and sisters beneath the Fatherhood of our living God.  To argue otherwise is to create a world of fenced-in ruts.  In God’s world where stretched souls live, there are no neighborhood restrictions because the world, the whole world, is our neighborhood.

One isn’t very far into the book of Genesis before the subject of the soul leaps off the pages, “The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

We are further into the first book of the Gospels when Matthew warns us of the soul’s importance, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”  (Matthew 16:26)

Indeed, have you ever noticed that men sell their soul to the Devil?  But give their soul to God?

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FORIGIVENESS, WHAT'S THAT?

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     It’s been sixty years but I still remember the story.  It was all over the newspapers at the time.  A man and woman had begun early in the evening to argue.  At 3 AM, weary and worn, they were still bickering.

Finally the man went to sleep.

At which time the woman got a gun and shot him dead.

Her first visitor in jail was the father of the man she had killed, and his first words were, “I forgive you.”  The next day it made the front pages.

Had he stood on the jail house steps and vowed vengeance, it might have made the last page of the newspaper or buried opposite the obituaries.  Or received no notice at all.  But Christian forgiveness under such circumstances?  Well now, when a Christian acts like it - that is news.

The agnostic H. G. Wells wrote the following, “Christianity will never work because Christ is too big for the little men and women he must work with.”

The sad fact is that many people never really expect Christians to act like it.

 

The Prodigal Son finally got it right.  Filled with remorse.  Finally able and willing to face what he had become and what he must undo, he simply said, “Make me even as a hired servant.  Make me everything but what I was.”

One modern day philosopher put it well, “As a Christian, it is not your job to “whittle” sticks.  You are called to build temples.”  (Edgar De-Witt)

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THE GALILEE GALLERY

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The Galilee Gallery and other· NEW TESTAMENT CHARACTERS You OUGHT To Know BETTER

To better understand Jesus and the early world in which He lived, it is important to know those around Him.

THE SHEPHERDS (Luke 11: 15)

In the time of Jesus, shepherds carried around a bad reputation for dishonesty and little respect for the Tomb. It is interesting to note that it was com-I mon practice for sheep to be put under cover from November to March, except around Bethlehem where they were outside year round. This would explain the Biblical account "keeping watch over their flock by night."

Of one thing there is little doubt, it must have been a monumental experience for those simple men on the side of a hill. Angels from on high proclaiming a heavenly birth. It is little wonder the shepherds fled in wonderment to see for themselves what they had been told.

Like the Wisemen, once they paid homage to the Christ child, they are written out of the story. And while there is no biblical comment to the fact, one would imagine that they certainly were unable to. keep their experience a secret.

THE WISEMEN (Matthew 11:1)

Only in Matthew do you find the wisemen mentioned, and even here, though we think the number three, no specific number is named. If logic is served, three gifts can make the claim there were three wisemen. However, the number is not significant.

Dig deep in non-Biblical sources and a cornucopia of information comes pouring out They were of a sect of Medes who were students of astrology. From the seventh century on there seems general agreement that their names were Melchior, Balthazar and Gaspar.

There has been much speculation about what the star was but Matthew wrote that the star went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was." Why would these men follow such a star? However, why would they not since they were knowledgeable about a divine Redeemer to be born in Palestine?

From where did they come? Since it is written only that they came from east of Jerusalem, most scholars would answer, Persia. In those days it was the center of occult learning. One thing is for ~it was a difficult journey of close to 1000 miles that led them across the Syrian desert through the passes of Moab into Jericho where the Dead Sea and the River Jordan meet, on to Jerusalem and finally to Bethlehem.

DEATH BY ENVY

 

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Are you obsessed with another gal or guy - that they might have more than you; that their talents might be recognized more than yours are recognized?  Christianity constantly speaks of thinking of the other person more than yourself, but not in the manner Envy does.

 

 

Well now, we’ve spent enough time in this series defining and explaining envy…now let’s look at some ways to get rid of it.

 

 

Switch from envy to gratitude.

 

 

Don’t allow another person’s success to rob you of the pleasure your own achievement.  I remember in college we had one fellow on the track team who broke every record from the mile through the marathon.  I knew I could never beat him, but I could always beat my own best time, which I continued to do right up till I graduated.

 

 

That other person has more wealth?  Be grateful you are not living in poverty.

 

 

Andrew Carnegie was a multimillionaire in a day when it was equal to being a billionaire in our time.  And what did he say of his wealth that so many envied, “Millionaires who laugh are rare.  My experience is that wealth is apt to take the smiles away.”

 

 

Henry Ford, the automobile king, said, “I was happier when doing a mechanic’s job.”

 

 

John B. Rockefeller wrote, “I have made millions, but they have brought me no happiness. I would barter them all for the days I sat on an office stool in Cleveland and counted myself rich on three dollars a week.”  Broken in health, constantly afraid someone would steal from him he never went anywhere without an armed guard.

 

 

That other person sings with a better voice?   Be grateful you have any voice at all. 

 

 

The other person has twenty/twenty vision and even with your glasses you’d like to be able to see better.  Ever hear of a woman named Helen Keller?  Remember, she was mute and deaf and blind.

 

 

Learn and remember and repeat jokes about envy and jealousy.  They will let you laugh at yourself and who wants to be the object of self ridicule.  By way of example…there was the man who said his wife’s jealousy was getting ridiculous, “The other day she looked at my calendar and wanted to know who May was.”

 

 

Keep your mouth shut.  Don’t constantly be putting other people down as a way of lifting yourself up.  

 

 

Get to know better the person you are envious of.  As you do, try to appreciate and admire the trait or talent you have envied them for having.  Admiration is better than envy any day in the week.

 

 

And ask your self this question, “Why do I always have to be number 1 in everything?”  For yes, any time you are envious, it is because you feel you are in second place. 

 

 

Intellectually I’m sure you know you can’t be in first place in everything, so again…ask yourself, “Why do I always have to be number 1?”

 

 

Since this is an impossible yearning, instead pour your energies into loving God enough to be content.  Loving your fellowman enough so as not to envy.  This is a double dose of Christian sanity and well worth all your efforts to achieve.  

 

You know what envious people do on a regular basis?  They walk into a room and in a sense announce, “Ta da!  Here I am.”  And then …if those gathered do not kowtow and genuflect, they feel unappreciated and unloved, and they fuss and they fret and they frame their discontent and hang it on any nearby wall.

 

Exodus 20:17 – “You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.” 

 

Would you rid yourself of the curse of being envious?  Then pray not to be covetous.

 

Do you really want to rid yourself of envy?  Just remember, that person you envy, for whatever reason, also has wants and needs that are not getting fulfilled and never will be.  They may look like they are getting everything they want…but they aren’t.

 

Nobody does.

 

So they need your understanding and your love and perhaps also your help in some areas it not others.  What they certainly don’t need is your rancor.

 

There is an old Latin proverb, “He who covets is always poor.”  And so is the person who is always envious - the more they envy, the poorer they get…in mind, body and soul.

 

Would you rid yourself of Envy?  Then pray to be content with what you have and who you are.  Do this and you will be rich beyond your wildest dreams.

 

And meanwhile remember, Envy does not always announce its entrance but it will never leave without your consent.

 

Are you obsessed with another gal or guy - that they might have more than you; that their talents might be recognized more than yours are recognized?  Christianity constantly speaks of thinking of the other person more than yourself, but not in the manner Envy does.

 

 

Well now, we’ve spent enough time in this series defining and explaining envy…now let’s look at some ways to get rid of it.

 

 

Switch from envy to gratitude.

 

 

Don’t allow another person’s success to rob you of the pleasure your own achievement.  I remember in college we had one fellow on the track team who broke every record from the mile through the marathon.  I knew I could never beat him, but I could always beat my own best time, which I continued to do right up till I graduated.

 

 

That other person has more wealth?  Be grateful you are not living in poverty.

 

 

Andrew Carnegie was a multimillionaire in a day when it was equal to being a billionaire in our time.  And what did he say of his wealth that so many envied, “Millionaires who laugh are rare.  My experience is that wealth is apt to take the smiles away.”

 

 

Henry Ford, the automobile king, said, “I was happier when doing a mechanic’s job.”

 

 

John B. Rockefeller wrote, “I have made millions, but they have brought me no happiness. I would barter them all for the days I sat on an office stool in Cleveland and counted myself rich on three dollars a week.”  Broken in health, constantly afraid someone would steal from him he never went anywhere without an armed guard.

 

 

That other person sings with a better voice?   Be grateful you have any voice at all. 

 

 

The other person has twenty/twenty vision and even with your glasses you’d like to be able to see better.  Ever hear of a woman named Helen Keller?  Remember, she was mute and deaf and blind.

 

 

Learn and remember and repeat jokes about envy and jealousy.  They will let you laugh at yourself and who wants to be the object of self ridicule.  By way of example…there was the man who said his wife’s jealousy was getting ridiculous, “The other day she looked at my calendar and wanted to know who May was.”

 

 

Keep your mouth shut.  Don’t constantly be putting other people down as a way of lifting yourself up.  

 

 

Get to know better the person you are envious of.  As you do, try to appreciate and admire the trait or talent you have envied them for having.  Admiration is better than envy any day in the week.

 

 

And ask your self this question, “Why do I always have to be number 1 in everything?”  For yes, any time you are envious, it is because you feel you are in second place. 

 

 

Intellectually I’m sure you know you can’t be in first place in everything, so again…ask yourself, “Why do I always have to be number 1?”

 

 

Since this is an impossible yearning, instead pour your energies into loving God enough to be content.  Loving your fellowman enough so as not to envy.  This is a double dose of Christian sanity and well worth all your efforts to achieve.  

 

You know what envious people do on a regular basis?  They walk into a room and in a sense announce, “Ta da!  Here I am.”  And then …if those gathered do not kowtow and genuflect, they feel unappreciated and unloved, and they fuss and they fret and they frame their discontent and hang it on any nearby wall.

 

Exodus 20:17 – “You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.” 

 

Would you rid yourself of the curse of being envious?  Then pray not to be covetous.

 

Do you really want to rid yourself of envy?  Just remember, that person you envy, for whatever reason, also has wants and needs that are not getting fulfilled and never will be.  They may look like they are getting everything they want…but they aren’t.

 

Nobody does.

 

So they need your understanding and your love and perhaps also your help in some areas it not others.  What they certainly don’t need is your rancor.

 

There is an old Latin proverb, “He who covets is always poor.”  And so is the person who is always envious - the more they envy, the poorer they get…in mind, body and soul.

 

Would you rid yourself of Envy?  Then pray to be content with what you have and who you are.  Do this and you will be rich beyond your wildest dreams.

 

And meanwhile remember, Envy does not always announce its entrance but it will never leave without your consent.