Patience - Part Duex

Those of you who have been following my writing lately may have noticed
that I am saying, posting, and writing a lot about patience.  That is
because I am running out of it.  Usually I don't have an end to my
patience, but lately we have been forced to deal with a lot of
problems.  None of them are very big, but when there are several per
day, every day, for weeks and months, it starts to affect you.  So, that
led me to a larger understanding of exactly why my patience is wearing
out.  It is because of a lack of peace.

Even though you may be a
Christian, the devil can work on you and cause you to constantly be
fighting, running, and working to keep him at arm's length.  This is
tiresome.  Add to that the everyday problems of life such as flat tires,
broken dishwashers, rotting door jambs, car trouble, broken toilets,
etc., it is easy to quit seeking peace.  This is dangerous.

Peace
will not come find you.  It's quite the opposite.  Peace is elusive. 
You have to search for it and, often, you have to MAKE it happen.  That
is something I haven't been doing recently.

When the problems
pile up, how do you deal with them?  Lately, at least for me, it seems
that I haven't been dealing with them very well.  I have failed to MAKE
my own peace and instead have let outside problems affect my attitude. 

Php 4:11  Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
Php
4:12  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every
where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be
hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
Php 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Wise words that I need to listen to more.

Patience

Our VBS this year was about the Fruit of the Spirit.  So, naturally, the
Fruit of the Spirit has been on my mind a lot lately.  By now, we all
know the song that Allen taught us, so we know that the Fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, and self-control.  There is one of those, in particular,
that I want to talk about because it is the one that I struggle with,
and I know if I struggle with it, other people struggle with it as
well.  That one
is.......................................................................................................patience. 
I was blessed this year to be able to write the puppet shows for VBS.  I
wrote four.  Peace, Joy, Kindness, and Patience.  Patience was the most
difficult.  Not because I had a hard time figuring out what to write,
but because I had a very hard time keeping it inside a time limit.  It
ended up being the longest of the four, and I still have more to say on
the topic.

2Pe 1:1  Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of
Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us
through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
2Pe 1:2  Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
2Pe
1:3  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that
pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath
called us to glory and virtue:
2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us
exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be
partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in
the world through lust.

Wow.  That's some good stuff.  Peter
tells us that we have been given all things that pertain to life and
godliness and we got those things through our knowledge of Jesus.  He
tells us that we have been promised great and precious things.  That we
can be partakers of the divine nature because we escape the evil of the
world.  These are all things that we really want.

2Pe 1:5  And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
2Pe 1:6  And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
2Pe 1:7  And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
2Pe
1:8  For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye
shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ.

Here, Peter tells us that to the faith he already
talked about above, that we should add virtue, and to that knowledge,
and to that temperance, and to that patience, and to that godliness, and
to that brotherly kindness, and to that love.  Notice how these thing
build on each other.  If we don't have faith, we won't be virtuous
because we won't care about being Christ-like.  And if we aren't
virtuous we won't care at all about being knowledgeable.  Then, for
folks who struggle with patience, he takes to meddling.  He tells us
that to knowledge we should add temperance, and to that patience, and
then we can move on to things like godliness, brotherly kindness, and
love.  I don't think it's a mistake that he put love last.  I think
Peter is trying to tell us that to truly love our brothers and sisters
the way that Christ did, we have to have all these other things first. 
As Greg talked about on Sunday, some of the early ones are pretty easy,
but as we move on down the list, it gets harder.  Faith in Jesus and
baptism isn't the end, it's just the beginning.  And we are to
constantly be working toward the end of the list.  To do that, we have
to get over that patience hump.

And that's where it gets
difficult, at least for me.  Sometimes I want to spit out exactly what's
on my mind.  I feel like someone has wronged me or said something out
of turn and I just want to let loose with what's on my mind.  Sometimes,
I want something and I want it now.  Often, what I want is a thing. 
But, more often what I want is for someone to act in some certain way. 
Sometimes, I want God to do something and I want him to use my time
table instead of His own.  To get over that patience hump we may have to
make a lot of changes.  We may have to grow a little thicker skin.  We
may have to give our brothers and sisters the benefit of the doubt
more.  We may have to practice keeping our mouth closed when our first
inclination is to open and let someone have a piece of our mind.  And
most of all, we need to ask God to help us, and He will.
 
2Pe
1:9  But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off,
and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
2Pe 1:10 
Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and
election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

Peter
gives us a warning here.  He says that those who lack these things are
blind.  And worse than that, that he has forgotten that he was purged
from his old sin.  He goes on to say that we should give diligence to
working on those things.  That is the second time he has said that we
need to be diligent.  The first time was up in verse 5.  So, he started
by telling us to be diligent and he ended by telling us again.

Now,
I said before that if we ask God to help us with these things, He
will.  But, He will not do them for us.  We aren't just going to wake up
one morning and be magically patient.  It's going to take work on our
part.  And sometimes, that work is hard.  That's why Peter tells us to
be diligent.  And he gives further encouragement in the next two verses.

2Pe
1:11  For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into
the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
2Pe
1:12  Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance
of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present
truth.

He reminds us that we will have a place in the kingdom
of God if we strive to work on these things.  And then he tells us that
he will not be negligent in reminding us of these things.  And he
hasn't.  It's written down for us to look at any time we need to.  And
even though we know them, it never hurts to be reminded of them again
because we all need reminders every now and then.

Maybe, like me,
patience is your hurdle.  Lay that on God and He will help you.  You
can also lay that on your brothers and sisters and they will help you
too.  Maybe patience isn't a problem for you, but maybe one of these
other things is your hurdle.  God is just as willing to help you with
that problem.  And your brothers and sisters are ready to help you too.

Maybe
you have never put on Christ, and you're thinking, "I need those things
in my life.  I need temperance.  I need patience.  I need love."  It
can be yours to have.  All that it takes is for you to repent of your
sins, a turning away from the sinful things in your life.  To confess
before men that you believe Jesus is Lord and is the only way to eternal
life.  To be buried in baptism with Him for the remission of those sins
so that you can rise to walk a new life, a clean life, a loving life. 
Everything is ready.  There's no need to wait.  In coming to Jesus, it's
ok to be impatient.

More Than a Conqueror

Growing up, I hated history.  To me it was endless dates and boring facts about people who have been dead forever.  I didn't see the point of learning what size shoes George Washington wore.

But, then I got older and thanks to a coincidence involving me being sick, the TV being on the History Channel, and a lost remote control, I gained an appreciation for History.  So, I'm going to do something I vowed I would never do and that is talk about some of those people who have been dead forever.  I promise there won't be a quiz.

Through out history there have been lots of conquerors.  I want to talk about 3 of them.  All of them did some good things and all of them did some bad things.  All of them left a lasting legacy that persists to this day.

Alexander the Great

(356-323 B.C.), king of Macedonia, conqueror of the Persian Empire, and one of the greatest military geniuses of all times.

Alexander was one of the greatest generals of all time, noted for his brilliance as a tactician and troop leader and for the rapidity with which he could traverse great expanses of territory. He was usually brave and generous, but could be cruel and ruthless when politics demanded. The theory has been advanced that he was actually an alcoholic having, for example, killed his friend Clitus in a drunken fury. He later regretted this act deeply. As a statesman and ruler he had grandiose plans; according to many modern historians he cherished a scheme for uniting the East and the West in a world empire, a new and enlightened "world brotherhood of all men." He trained thousands of Persian youths in Macedonian tactics and enrolled them in his army. He himself adopted Persian manners and married Eastern wives, namely, Roxana and he encouraged and bribed his officers to take Persian wives. Shortly before he died, Alexander ordered the Greek cities to worship him as a god. Although he probably gave the order for political reasons, he was, in his own view and that of his contemporaries, of divine birth. The order was largely nullified by his death shortly after he issued it.


Napoleon

(1769-1821), emperor of the French, whose imperial dictatorship ended the French Revolution (1789-1799) while consolidating the reforms it had brought about. One of the greatest military commanders of all time, he conquered much of Europe.

Napoleon was a driven man, never secure, never satisfied. "Power is my mistress," he said. His life was work-centered; even his social activities had a purpose. He could bear amusements or vacations only briefly. His tastes were for coarse food, bad wine, cheap snuff. He could be charming-hypnotically so-for a purpose. He had intense loyalties-to his family and old associates. Nothing and no one, however, were allowed to interfere with his work.

Napoleon was sometimes a tyrant and always an authoritarian, but one who believed in ruling by mandate of the people, expressed in plebiscites. He was also a great enlightened monarch-a civil executive of enormous capacity who changed French institutions and tried to reform the institutions of Europe and give the Continent a common law. Few deny that he was a military genius.


William the Conqueror

was Duke of Normandy from 1035 and King of England from 1066 to his death.

To claim the English crown, William invaded England in 1066, leading an army of Normans to victory over the Anglo-Saxon forces of Harold Godwinson (who died in the conflict) at the Battle of Hastings, and suppressed subsequent English revolts in what has become known as the Norman Conquest.

His reign, which brought Norman culture to England, had an enormous impact on the subsequent course of England in the Middle Ages. In addition to political changes, his reign also saw changes to English law, a program of building and fortification, changes to the vocabulary of the English language, and the introduction of continental European feudalism into England.

In 1051, citizens in a town William was besieging, taunted him about being illegitimate. Once the town had fallen to him, he ordered that those who had abused him should have their hands and feet cut off.


These are just a few of the conquerors in our past, but there is one thing that none of them could conquer.  Death.  There has only been one person that has conquered death.  One person that controlled death.  And that person is Jesus.

Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We will probably never be conquerors of lands and people.  We will probably never have a lasting legacy of the type that the men I mentioned have.  But, through Jesus Christ, we can become more than mere conquerors.  These verses let us know that, through Christ, we can become great.  We can become conquerors of death, conquerors of sin, and conquerors of anything that tries to keep us away from the love of Christ.

These verses let us know that there is no problem, no suffering, no trial, no disaster, no persecution, no worry, no power, no enemy, no person, no sin and not even death can keep us from God.  All we have to do is accept his gift.

Maybe you have weight of a huge burden on your shoulders.  That burden can't keep you away.  God can take care of it.
Maybe you have a ton of guilt.  It can't keep you away.  God can lift it.
Maybe you want to start living your life for God.  You want to repent of your sin, confess the name of Jesus, and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sin.  Nothing can keep you away.  God can remove the sin.

There is nothing God can't handle.  God is always ready to make you more than a conqueror.

The 5th L

Well, I felt like I was missing something after writing the last post.  I
just had this nagging feeling that there was one more L.  And I finally
realized what it was.

Litigate - Now, before you stop reading,
it isn't what you think.  We live in a litigious society.  Everyone is
always ready to sue someone for something either real or imaginary. 
This is not the purpose of this particular L.  I understand the Bible
tells us not to be litigious, so just stick with me.

I am using
the word litigate because it is the only L word that is a synonym for
"sue".  And since I think the 5 L's are a good mnemonic device and
especially since I am writing the article (little joke), it's what I
decided to use.

So, why would litigate go with the other four L's
(Learn, Love, Labor, and Lead)?  Doesn't seem to fit in, does it? 
Well, I must admit that I am somewhat of a word-lover.  Especially when
it comes to old and underused words.  But, I also like simple everyday
words that have had their meanings changed over the years.  I like to
learn those old, obsolete meaning to everyday words and use them.  Call
me idiosyncratic...

One of those deprecated definitions is a
definition for the word "sue".  One of the definitions of the word "sue"
that rarely gets used anymore is "to make petition or appeal to".  I
love this definition of the word.

In Philippians 4:6  we are told
"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."  In other
words, we are to make our petitions to God in prayer.  Or, to be
shorter, we are to "sue in prayer".  Isn't it wonderful that we have a
living God that we can sue for favor.  That we can ask and if it is his
will, he will grant it.  But, it's the next verse that is my favorite.

Philippians 4:7  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

In
today's society, where there is so much to worry about, having peace
that passes all understanding is very welcome.  We desire to have that
peace, do we not?  Well, all we have to do is sue for it and it will be
given.  We just have to let go of the things of this world and put it
all on God and we can have that peace.

Now, just one quick side
note on the phrase "Be careful for nothing".  This means not to be
anxious or solicitous about the things of the present life.  Now, I'm no
Greek or Hebrew scholar, but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last
night, and I happen to have a pretty good Greek and Hebrew dictionary as
well as a decent Bible commentary, so I would like to expound on this
phrase just a little.  The word used here is "merimnate".  I am told by
my commentary that it "does not mean that we are to exercise no care
about worldly matters - no care to preserve our property, or to provide
for our families; but that there is to be such confidence in God as to
free the mind from anxiety, and such a sense of dependence on him as to
keep it calm."

This is similar to Matthew 6:25 which says
"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall
eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put
on.  Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?"

The
phrase "no thought" used to mean something different than it does
today.  If we actually gave "no thought" to eating or drinking, we would
all be dead.  If we actually gave "no thought" to what we would put on,
we would be in violation of several decency laws.  If we actually gave
"no thought" for our lives, going into places like Nigeria may be the
last trip we made.

A better translation for that section of the
verse is "do not be anxious about your life".  "Thought" about the
future is fine.  There is a certain amount of "thinking" about the
things of this life that is proper.  We just need to make sure that all
we do we do in the will of the Lord.  We can see this explained clearly
in James.

James 4:13  You should know better than to say, "Today
or tomorrow we will go to the city. We will do business there for a year
and make a lot of money!"
James 4:14  What do you know about
tomorrow? How can you be so sure about your life? It is nothing more
than mist that appears for only a little while before it disappears.
James 4:15  You should say, "If the Lord lets us live, we will do these things."

We see here that it is fine to make plans and have concern for things like business as long as we do it within God's will.

So, that is the 5th L.

Our Christian Duty in an Increasingly Non-Christian World

On the second and fourth Thursday night of each month, I meet with a
group of men at the church I attend and we have a Bible study.  This
past Thursday, a discussion started that I thought I would share with
everyone.

We were discussing Acts 4.  In this chapter, Peter and
John are arrested for teaching about Jesus.  They are questioned by the
High Priest and told not to teach these things any more.  We had a very
good discussion about this.

One of the men made the observation
that the Jewish leaders in this chapter had complete proof that these
men were from God through Jesus and that what they said was true yet,
they chose to ignore it.  He commented that what happened then was very
similar to what is going on in our country today.  He asked what we, as
Christians, could do to turn our country back to God.

What
followed was a discussion about answers to that question.  I spent the
last few days thinking about that discussion and I feel like the
following covers the topics that were discussed.  I call them the "4
L's".

Learn - 2 Timothy 2:15 says "Study to shew thyself approved
unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth."  There are two reasons to study the word.  First, we
need to study so that we know what is truth.  We have to understand
what God wants us to do for Him.  Secondly, we need to study so that we
will have a ready answer to anyone who asks us about God.  So that we
can share God with others.

Those are the two reasons that we have
the men's class.  Firstly, to learn the word of God more perfectly and
secondly, to make us able to teach others.

The Bible asks in Luke 6:39  "Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?"

If
we hope to lead others to Christ, we must first make sure that we have
learned the correct thing to do.  We must make sure that we are not
"blind".

Love - This is the central theme of the Bible, isn't
it?  God loved us enough to send His only Son, and we should love Him
enough to do what He tells us to.  Every word of every page of the Bible
is a story of love.  Jesus was our perfect example of love.

Now, it's easy to love people who love you, but the Bible says:

(Mat 5:43)  Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
(Mat
5:44)  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse
you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully
use you, and persecute you;

If we are to love our enemies, then
it stands to reason that we should love everyone else.  That we should
care enough about everyone's soul and eternal life that we want them to
have what we have.  We should have a loving care in our hearts for
people who don't know Jesus and help them find Him.  We need to
constantly pray that God helps us have that love and concern for
everyone.

Labor - This is the most important point.  Before Jesus
ascended to heaven, he gave what has become known as the Great
Commission.

(Mat 28:19)  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost:
(Mat 28:20)  Teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto
the end of the world. Amen.

Our mission, our work, our goal is
to teach others.  We are supposed to bring others to Christ.  It is our
duty.  Our life should be given over to teaching others, to laboring for
the glory of God and to helping others find Him.  Furthermore, we
should strive to teach those we bring to Christ how to teach others
themselves.  This should be an ongoing process.  If we continue to labor
like this, it should be an exponential return.

One of the men in
the study told us about a discipleship program that he is going through
with these goals in mind.  I can't remember the name of it, but I will
post the web site when I find it.  He brought up the point that if we
teach others and they, in turn, teach others, it won't take long to
increase our numbers dramatically.

He is exactly right.  What
this country needs more than anything else is more Christians.  We
started as a country of Christians but we have failed to stay that way. 
We need to work diligently to convert more people to Jesus.

Lead
- Finally, we must lead.  1Ti 3:1 tells us "This is a true saying, If a
man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work."  Men are
told to strive to become teachers and leaders.  But, we must realize
that everyone is called to be a leader.  Jesus says the following in the
sermon on the mount:

(Mat 5:14)  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
(Mat
5:15)  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on
a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
(Mat 5:16)  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

This
tells us that we are all leaders whether we want to be or not.  We
either lead in a good way or in a bad way all the time.  We need to make
sure that we lead in a good way, that our light always shines for
Jesus, and that we always try to set the example that God wants us to
set.

But, there is another aspect to leading.  And that is one
possible answer to the question that was posed about how to turn our
country back to God.  At the same time we are Learning, Loving, and
Laboring to bring others to Christ, we must identify and encourage
Christian men and women who would be good leaders to think about
becoming the leaders this country needs.

So, what kind of person
makes one of those good leaders?  Well, unfortunately and fortunately,
it is usually someone who doesn't want to do it.  I call this type of
person a "reluctant leader".  Typically, the people who want to be
leaders, want to do it for power or because of ego.  The people we
actually need to lead are the people who don't want to do it for self. 
These "reluctant leaders" want to lead so that they can help others. 
They truly care for the well-being of others and want to make sure that
the right things are being done.  In other words, they are more
interested in serving than in leading.

Many times, these
"reluctant leaders" have to be encouraged to pursue positions like this
because they don't wish to be in the lime light.  They often don't feel
like they are good enough for the job.  But, usually, these are exactly
the people we need.  When you run across one of these people, encourage
them, help them, and uplift them.

So, now, it is up to us.  If we
want to turn our country back to God, we must learn, love, labor, and
lead.  Each builds on the last and all are equally important.  If you
don't learn, you can't appreciate the love that God has for us.  If you
don't love, you will have no desire to labor.  And finally, if you don't
labor to increase the size of God's Kingdom, no amount of good
leadership will matter.  We need to pray to God that he helps us each
day to remember and follow these four L's.

Handle With Care

In 2 Timothy 2:15 we are told "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth".

So, this is how I'm going to try to do that.  For years, I have written blogs on politics, religion, technology, and just my general thoughts.  I have decided, however, to split those things up and devote an entire blog to my study of God's Word.  I also wanted one place to archive all these thoughts so my fuzzy brain can always find them.

The first few posts I make will be older posts that I pull from my old blogs.  If you've already read them, either read them again or ignore them.

Enjoy!