The Chief Shepherd

                                            “Truly, truly I say to you, I am the door to the sheep. All who come before Me are thieves and robbers but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door, if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” John 10:7-9 (New American Standard Bible)

When Jesus gave this illustration to the Jews they understood the terminology of the sheep’s gate if not its spiritual lesson. When shepherds led their sheep to pasture they would gather enough stones to build a pen for the animals. It would be roughly the shape of a square with an opening at one end that was the “door” for the sheep. The shepherd would stay near the opening watching over his animals as they grazed during the day and at night when all the sheep were in the pen the shepherd would lie across the opening serving as its “gate.” Not only was it to keep his sheep in but also to be their protector ensuring nothing would get past him and hurt his flock. Good shepherds would go to great lengths to fight off attacking animals. David told King Saul he had killed both a lion and a bear that came after his flock (I Samuel 17:34, 35). Being a good shepherd wasn’t for the faint of heart.

Jesus, the ultimate good shepherd, provides for the needs of the flock and is its security against all enemies. False shepherds care not an iota about the safety of the sheep but are only concerned with feeding themselves. In contrast a good shepherd has an intimacy with his sheep with an interest that is personally attentive to those in his charge. The model of this intimacy is that of the personal and loving familiarity of the Father to the Son. What a comfort to know that as our own Good Shepherd lies at the gate we have perfect comfort and rest with His continual presence. With that also is the confidence that when the danger comes to kill, steal and destroy the flock we have a courageous and invincible Shepherd who will run toward the danger with zeal and meet the threat head-on to protect those in His hand. Surely it makes perfect sense that all that enters through the Gate will be saved. That is our reassurance that we always have One who is watching over us, protecting and meeting our need. The sheep are never in situations the Chief Shepherd is not aware of for He never leaves or forsakes His flock.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

It's not you, it's them

"The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil. John 7:7 (New American Standard Bible)

Ever have someone get upset with you when you shared Jesus with them? I once had a woman tell me, “I would rather go to hell than have someone tell me I needed to turn to Jesus Christ as my savior!” What would create such ire in a person to say such a thing? I often marvel at how Jesus Christ, who did great good, is one of the most reviled men in history. Even 2000 years after He walked the earth His name can still provoke great agitation and loathing from the greater part of the human population. Talking about God is really too generic to pose any threat. After all, one can make any abstract idea into a concept of God. But why does the name of Jesus bring such antipathy? It’s because He calls us to accountability for our actions shining light upon the inmost portions of our thoughts and motives. One of the quickest defensive postures a person will make is when their belief system or lifestyle is challenged. Jesus goes further to say He is hated because He reveals and testifies of the evil deeds people practice. People can speak of God in a detached way but they can’t do that with Jesus. He was too specific in what He requires of us and that drives some people crazy. No one can tell me how I should live my life!

If you’ve ever limped away from that kind of angry attack concerning the Son of Man then I have a couple of good things to encourage you with. The first is you’re in good company; for even the prophets of old were treated this way when they met the scoffers of their time. Secondly, what you say is not of yourself. As you graciously share Christ it isn’t up to you to persuade anyone to come to Him. That job is the Holy Spirit’s. When people reject your testimony of Jesus they aren’t rejecting you but the One who sent you. Whether they have an awakening to Christ at that time is no one’s business but God’s. The Lord is a marvelous closer knowing exactly what to bring to any person so that they may immediately or perhaps at some future time come to a relationship with His Son. What God expects of us is to be obedient to that task. That takes a whole lot of pressure off if you ask me. In sharing with others do your best and God will handle the rest. When you are reviled for your testimony in Christ it isn’t you, it’s them.

Ken

I Saw That Coming

The Lord has established His throne in the heavens; and His sovereignty rules over all. Psalms 103:19 (New American Standard Bible)

I once knew a Christian lady who would become angry whenever the prophetic words of Jesus were spoken of. She believed the Bible was God’s word but balked for some reason at prophecy. Even after talking with her about the glorious message and hope in the prophetic side of the Bible I never had a clear understanding why she felt that way. The words of God’s prophecies bring hope. Almost 1/3 of the Bible deals with future events; some already fulfilled and some yet to be.

We’re heading into the New Year with a lot of grief traveling with us. There is a great moral lapse in America and in the world in which millions push God away and practice wickedness with no fear. Justice is perverted. Those in power take advantage of citizens while pushing destructive agendas. Add to this the organizations that threaten and murder innocent people by the score sowing the seeds of fear and dread. Nations rattle swords with impending rumors of hostilities. At the time of this writing North and South Korea are standing on the brink of reigniting a full scale war on the peninsula with possibility of nuclear intervention which could possibly drag the human race into World War III. We may be less than two years away from Iran developing a nuclear device which surely would become a major threat to Israel and world peace. And it goes on and on. But there is hope.

Jesus Christ was the ultimate prophet of history. He not only foretold future last day events but prophesied of His own life in His death and resurrection. Christ fulfilled 48 prophecies from the writings of the Old Testament prophets. Just to have fulfilled only 8 the odds would be 1 in 10 to the 17th power. To have fulfilled all 48 prophecies the odds are astronomical at an astounding 1 in 10 to the 157th power. It looks like this; the smallest object known to man is the electron. It is so small that it will take 2.5 times (10 to the 15th power) to make a single file line one inch long. Counting this one inch long line of electrons at 250 per minute, day and night, would take 19 million years to count just that one inch. Let’s suppose we mark only 1 electron and stir it back into the mass, blindfold a person and tell them to find the marked electron. Those are the same odds of any man fulfilling 48 prophecies as it is recorded Jesus Christ did in His lifetime (Evidence That Demands a Verdict, p 167).

I don’t know about you but believing in a God who can do that builds within me a lot of hope that the world will soon be redeemed and returned to its first estate. The Apostle Paul likened the travail of the present earth system to a woman laboring in birth pains (Romans 8:22, 23). We agonize in our spirits as we wait for God to return and set things right. As God is a loving heavenly Father He desires to show us His plans so we may be encouraged. God will fulfill all the things He promised through His Son. Be encouraged as we enter the New Year; the odds are in our favor things will turn out just fine.

Ken

O Come Let Us Show our Teeth

At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place at Jerusalem; it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple in the portico of Solomon. John 10:22, 23 (New American Standard Bible)

We seldom stop to think that Jesus enjoyed life and being in the company of festive people. The Gospels tell of Him attending a wedding, being invited into people’s homes for dinner and fellowship and even being in Jerusalem during Hanukah (Feast of Dedication). If we carefully study the life of Christ we do not find a humorless or dour Savior. Some people even believe it is blasphemous to imagine Jesus ever smiled or laughed when He was like us in every respect. Being 100% God He was also 100% human. Instead we find in Jesus a Man who loved to be social and was totally comfortable and happy in every group situation.

Somewhere along the line the view of Jesus’ humanity got skewed into pigeon holing Him into some kind of sourpuss who looked down on those who had something funny to add to a conversation; or who laughed out loud at a party. Can you imagine what a party with that kind of man would be? Dead silence with Jesus sitting in a corner frowning and glowering and an occasional dip of a chip. Don’t enjoy yourself and for heaven’s sake show no merriment in its proper context. God has a tremendous sense of humor. Just look at creation and the many hilarious animal clips on “The Planet’s Funniest Animal Videos.” Studying the Puritans carefully one finds even they enjoyed a good party with fiddles, food and dancing.

Jesus did come to give us life and that to the fullest. He was human in every sense and that would include enjoying event celebrations and entering into gaiety and laughter. I believe He is immeasurably pleased when we enter celebratory occasions with cheerfulness and joy. As we greet one another during this Christmas season let’s laugh and even toast one another with a cup of eggnog and give praise and thanks to the One we celebrate. That’s enough to make anyone smile. Merry Christmas to you all and blessing for a very happy new year.

Ken

You Can Go Back

Love does no wrong to a neighbor; love therefore is the fulfillment of the law. Romans 13:10 (New American Standard Bible)

I’m pretty sure if I took the Gospel message to a group of people and they abused me I would more than likely shake the dust off my sandals and say “Tough luck, guys. You had your chance. I’m out of here.”  The history of the Christian faith has many folk who have chosen to go back. In 1956 Christian and Missionary Alliance light bearer, Jim Elliot, and 4 fellow missionaries were brutally slain in the jungles of Ecuador by members of the Auca Indian tribe as they tried to share the message of God’s love. While Jim Elliot couldn’t go back his wife, Elisabeth, did. She returned and spent 2 years ministering to the people who were responsible for shattering her life. Several of the Auca men who had participated in the murder of her husband became Christians as a result.

The Apostle Paul was stoned at Lystra and his body dumped outside the city. He miraculously stood up and returned to the city which had almost ended his life (Acts 14:10). British missionary Hudson Taylor’s first endeavors to bring the gospel to China seemed to bring defeat. In 1855, 18 preaching tours to Shanghai were poorly received by the Chinese people and his medical supplies were lost to fire. In 1856 he was robbed of nearly all he owned. The year 1858 brought the death of his child. Taylor remained in China for another 51 years. In that time he was able to bring 800 missionaries over and establish 125 schools while learning 4 Chinese dialects. At last count the underground Christian church in China numbered 245 million.

How could they do it? The world believes the message of the cross is foolishness while we who are being saved know it is the power of God (1st Corinthians 1:18). No man or woman born of Adam’s seed can do it on their own. Those who do are endowed with the same Spirit of our loving Heavenly Father that came back to Adam’s lost race to redeem it; the same human race who murdered His Only Begotten Son. The thought of it is glorious in its theme. No other belief system unveils such a Divine Being or offers such hope to those who feel so hopeless. The example serves me well. I can say to those who abuse me “Hey, I’m back. How can I be of service?” This is the Christmas season where we celebrate the birth of He who became flesh and dwelt among us bringing light into our darkness, opening the eyes of the blind, healing the broken hearted and proclaiming the acceptable year of our Redeemer God. You have loved us with an everlasting love Jesus. I'm so grateful You came back for me.

Ken

www.devotionstoday.blogspot.com

Gobbling up God's Blessing

O come; let us sing for joy to the Lord; Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with Psalms. Psalms 95: 1,2 (New American Standard Bible)

My three-year-old granddaughter, Elizabeth, was recently in my office checking out a calendar which was turned to the month of November. She pointed to the last Thursday and asked why the number was in red. “That means that day is Thanksgiving. Do you know what Thanksgiving Day means?” Without a beat she threw her arms up and said, “We eat turkey!”

I believe that is one of the many things we have to be thankful for. In America we are surely blessed even with all the evil that is apparent within our society. I was sitting on my front porch a couple of days ago and was thankful for the peace and relative safety of not having to worry about having a mortar round dropped on my house or being shot at or kidnapped by thugs or martyred for my faith in Christ. Then I thought of the smaller of blessing like being able to draw my next breath. That set me to thinking of the little capillaries of thanksgiving that I tend to take for granted like my sight, my hearing and even my sense of touch.

Even with all our woes we are still the recipients of great blessing in so many ways. Looking over the rough spots of life and at the positive aspects of what we have can bring us to be in awe of what God has given us. When we stop to consider what we do have there’s a whole boatload of things, both physical and spiritual, for which we can raise our voices of Thanks. Thanks be to God who gives us bread instead of stone and fish instead of scorpions and serpents. Giving thanks to Him for the many large and small blessings we experience every day can be so easy-as easy as our next breath.

Thank you Jesus for the many things you do for me and for the blessings you bestow both in my physical world and what You have done and continue to do for me in spiritual places. You hold all things together and all I am is only because of your grace.

Ken

All in the Open

But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I utter words of sober truth. For the king knows about these matters, and I speak to him also with confidence, since I am persuaded that none of these things escape his notice; for this has not been done in a corner.” Acts 26:25, 26 (New American Standard Bible)

Lee Patrick Strobel, who was a veteran reporter for the “Chicago Tribune,” was an avowed atheist who in 1980 set out to prove the accounts of Jesus Christ were untrue. His careful quest became nearly a two year investigation into all the historical data concerning Jesus of Nazareth. At the end of his search he was amazed that the evidence, instead of cementing his atheistic viewpoint, brought him face-to-face with God’s Only Begotten Son. At that time he knew he needed to make a choice as to what to do with the Living Christ. The atheist became a believer and one of His most ardent champions. The disciple John said of his experience with Jesus that He had witnessed Christ in human form and physically interacted with him in a real space/time sense (John 1:14, 1st John 1:1-3). The disciple Peter also said that the story of Jesus wasn’t some clever story that was created by some crafty liars but that Jesus was actually witnessed in His power and glory (2nd Peter 1:16). All of Jesus’ disciples but John died martyrs deaths, their witness being written in their own blood. This thing surely was not done in some corner.

No other person of antiquity has been so fully documented by eye witness accounts as Jesus of Nazareth. Even His enemies admitted He was the doer of miraculous things (John 11:47, Acts 3:1-10, 4:10, 14-16). Why is it so easy to admit Caesar and his Roman legions crossed the Rubicon in 49 BC but stumble at the overwhelming evidence that Jesus of Nazareth really lived and did the things He did? He never left it so we would wonder that all he was was some great teacher. I like what C.S. Lewis said concerning Jesus;

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [Jesus]: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” – Mere Christianity, p 52.

Blessings,

Ken