The Super Bowl

The 50th Super Bowl was played Sunday, a long way from its humble beginnings in January 1967 when the first game didn't even sell out. Now, it's like an unofficial American holiday of sheer spectacle (and, yes, crass commercialization).

You always hear around this time, "Man, wouldn't it be great if an event glorifying God would attract that many people and viewers like the Super Bowl does?"

Yes, it would! And it made me think: Ever wonder how many people actually heard the Sermon on the Mount?

By varying estimates, the world at that time was inhabited by between 200 and 300 million people. Using the higher estimate, let's just assume that Jesus was able to preach to 3,000 - that would be 0.00001 percent of the people who lived in the world then.

Of course, there was no television. The Bible would end up serving as the major means of communication for the most famous sermon ever.

My point being, spreading of the Word over history has been a natural organic thing - first, passed down in spoken form, person to person, family to family. Then communicated more widely after the printing press was invented.

But then came radio and television. Yes, these were means used for further spreading of the Word. However, the audio and visual elements of this new media lent themselves to secular interests - soap operas and serial westerns on radio, followed by dramas, sitcoms and sports on TV, and so on.

I won't get started on the effects of mass media on spirituality and behavior; many books have already touched on those subjects. But I will say that, at least in my limited experience, the Word is spread more effectively these days in smaller settings. Sure, there's still a place for things like the old Billy Graham crusades, for praise-and-worship events in sports arenas, for contemporary Christian concerts, and yes, for mega churches.

There's something to be said, though, about the relationships and bonds that are formed among smaller circles of believers, and having that grow out naturally and organically - much like in the old days.

So let the Super Bowl have its ratings, its pomp, and its circumstance. We, as Christians, know there is something much greater than that.

Redemption

Get busy livin'...or get busy dyin'.

That might be my favorite line from one of my all-time favorite movies, The Shawshank Redemption. It's been on TV quite a bit lately, and I rarely miss the chance to watch at least part of it.

I really love movies that have deep meaning. Shawshank definitely qualifies. The lead character, Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), quite obviously comes across as a Christ-like figure. Consider this:

1. He is sent to Shawshank prison for a murder he didn't commit. So, in essence, he receives punishment without having sinned, much like Jesus.
 
2. Once at Shawshank, Andy immediately attracts friends (or, if you will, disciples), including the person who becomes his best friend, Ellis "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman). Andy is a ray of light amidst the darkness.
 
3. Just as Jesus is confronted (and tempted) by Satan, Andy is manipulated (or so we think) by the evil warden, Samuel Norton, who sees Andy as just another pawn toward ill-begotten riches. Andy isn't crucified, but he is locked away in solitary confinement at the point where he confronts the warden with the truth of his innocence. Of course, Jesus was punished Himself for putting forward the Truth.
 
4. And just when we think Andy has decided to end his life, we realize that he found his way of escaping the darkness of prison and coming back to the light of society - an obvious metaphor of Jesus' resurrection and ascension from our sinful world into the glorious Kingdom of Heaven.

And, so where does 'redemption' come into picture?

Many viewers think it is Andy who is redeemed. But I've always thought it was actually Red. It was Andy's powerful influence that allowed Red to finally come to terms with his crime and honestly present his case to the Parole Board:

 

I did a simple search and found 10 times that the word 'redemption' is mentioned in the Bible. This particular verse stood out to me:

 

"Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." (KJV Romans 3:24)

 

Just another reminder that redemption, justice and freedom are always around the corner. We just have to ask.



Worry

As humans it is in our nature to worry. Many of us have made an art form of it. But what good does it do? Does worrying make anything better? We worry about our children, our finances, our marriage and just about everything else in our lives. We stress, and we allow it to rob of us our joy. Is this what our Father in heaven wants for us? Was this his plan? Well let’s ask His word, shall we?

 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will Henot much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Matthew 6:25-34 NKJV

I think that Rick Warren said it well in his book “The Purpose of Christmas” when he wrote “The more you pray, the less you’ll panic. The more you worship, the less you worry. You’ll feel more patient and less pressured.”

So instead of doing something totally useless, and allowing the enemy to steal your joy, why not give it to the only perfect ONE who can do anything about it? Our Father in heaven.

The book of James tells us that if we draw near to God, He will in turn draw near to us. I implore you, just for today, give it to God and let Him bear the burden for you. You’ll feel so much better, and you’ll see, He’ll handle it better than you ever could.

"Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.

Jeremiah 17:7

Hello from Henry

If you are taking time to read this blog post, thank you. There's a pretty good chance you already know me if you are reading this. But if not, I look forward to making a new friend in Christ!

The blog posts from my wife, Teresa, will be spiritual nourishment for those seeking wisdom and knowledge in the Word. My posts...well, they will fall more into a different category - instead of nourishment, I feel moved to share my thoughts and ideas about a wide range of topics and subjects, looking at those things from the prism of a Christian in an increasingly godless society.

So expect me to talk about things that interest me - politics, music, films, sports, family life, hobbies, etc., etc. I will openly share my thoughts and opinions, and if you have something you want to add, you are very welcome to do so. It's always better when conversations are more than one-sided!

Thanks again for reading, and we'll talk again very soon.

Henry

MiracleGrow

Miracle Grow

Matthew 13 NKJV

The Parable of the Sower

13 On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. 2 And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore.

3 Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. 6 But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. 8 But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

The Purpose of Parables

10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”

11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:

‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,
And seeing you will see and not perceive;
15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should[a] heal them.’[b]
16 But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; 17 for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

As I was working in my garden a while back, it occurred to me how much it had grown in the two weeks since I had used a container or Miracle Grow on it. It kind of got me to thinking about the fact that during that same couple of weeks, I had done quite a bit of growing in my spiritual walk myself. It made me happy to see a physical representation of the growth that I had felt like I had done, and I thanked the Lord and continued working. As I was watering the garden the Holy Spirit posed a question to me: “What was your Miracle Grow?” My answer was obedience. Putting God first with obedience to the Spirit no matter what I felt at the time. Obedience to God instead of obedience to my comfort level. Obedience to my King instead of obeying my fear and my timidity.

I smiled about that and thought, “Hey that would be a really awesome sermon!” And tried to move on with my evening. Because, well, you know me, I don’t give sermons! I wasn’t getting off that easy though; the spirit kept speaking. Even through a Facebook post from a friend about God’s gardens and fruits of the spirit. So here we are today with my first sermon. Now I get to ask you! What is your Miracle Grow?

So in sticking with our gardening theme, I chose the parable of the sower to illustrate the points I feel that God revealed to me. I consider this one quite fitting, because as a new Christian this parable scared the tar out of me. I prayed so earnestly, “God, please let me be the seed that fell on good ground.” It didn’t escape my notice that so much of the seed in the story never yielded crop.

⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. 

¹⁹ When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart.

How do we overcome this? We keep trying! We pray and listen for our Daddy’s voice. Under no circumstances do we give up!

Proverbs 2:2-5

² So that you incline your ear to wisdom,
And apply your heart to understanding;
³ Yes, if you cry out for discernment,
And lift up your voice for understanding,
⁴ If you seek her as silver,
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
⁵ Then you will understand the fear of the Lord,
And find the knowledge of God.

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

You see, the seed that fell by the wayside has its problems, but the seed that fell into the fertile soil didn’t have an easy time of it either. It still had to struggle for growth. Just as in my garden at home, where there is fertile soil there are weeds competing for the nutrients; there are bugs making a meal of the leaves and fruits. There is always the possibility of drought; it still has to fight for its life. We as Christians are no different; there are so many things that can get in our way and many of those are of our own making. From our favorite T.V. show to screaming children and our smart phones. Do we always make time to hear God? Do we always stop listen?

I know I don’t. I know that I am guilty of being distracted and unconsciously putting things before God. It’s much easier to hear your child whine “Mom I’m bored!” at times than it is to hear the Lord speaking softly to you.

 ⁵ Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth.

²⁰ But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; ²¹ yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

Studying the Word

As Christians, our root is the word. We’re like an apple tree. Our bodies are the trunk and the branches, but without a good root system we will wither away and die.  The word is our root system.

1 Peter 2:1-5

, ² as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,³ if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

There are many scriptures about staying in the Word. But I felt this one fit best because of the visualization of the newborn baby. If a newborn baby does not eat, what happens? It will die. But that’s not exclusive to newborns, is it? As adults, if we don’t eat will we not also die? Will it take longer? Absolutely. But we will die nonetheless.

However, before we die of starvation, our last few days or weeks will be completely miserable. We will feel weak, we will have pain, and our stomach will literally eat away at itself. But in all that time, if we could just eat, our bodies could heal; there could be peace and the pain could be easily gone.

What’s so different about our walk as Christians? As newly born again Christians, I am sure that if we stay out of the Word, if we don’t have our “milk” then our fire will die out quickly and our roots will burn away. But the same goes for the seasoned Christians. Just because we are eating meat doesn’t mean that we are immortal in our walk with the Lord. It doesn’t mean that we don’t have to spend time in the nourishment that the Lord gives us. How much different would our outlooks on life be if we spent as much time in our Word as we spent preparing and eating food daily? I am not saying that everything will get magically better, only that the way we look at the bad things will improve greatly, and that our faith will grow with our knowledge of the Word.

⁷ And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. 

²² Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

Putting God First

Do you have any idols or gods before your Father in heaven? The Word says, “You shall have no other gods before me.” And I am sure everyone is thinking, “We know that, we don’t have any other gods!” We know there is one God, the Father the almighty, the maker of heaven and earth right? But wait! Now let’s think about Facebook, or that T.V. show you watch every week without fail. How about Twitter or the thirty notifications you get on your smart phone in an hour. When you wake up in the morning, what’s the first thing you grab for? Your Bible or your phone?  

You shall have no other gods BEFORE me. This means that NOTHING comes before God. Let’s break this one down a little.

Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the Word.

So Jesus is telling us that this person has heard His teachings. He knows the Word.

And the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

Q: What’s the first and biggest worldly concern for just about everyone?

A: Finances

So, what is Jesus then saying here? NOTHING comes before me. Not your finances, not your marriage, not your kids, not your social media or your T.V. programs. Jesus is saying, You shall have no other gods before me!

He is not saying don’t feed your children or make your marriage a priority, but that with God steering the boat everything else will fall into place.  

Proverbs 3:6

⁶ In everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown your efforts with success.

No one is saying leave your kids screaming in their rooms for an hour while you read your Bible and pray. Get up an hour earlier so that you can spend time with Him. Taking the time for Him means that you will better be prepared for your day.

Exodus 20:3

³ “You shall have no other gods before Me.

 

Romans 12: 1 & 2

 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

As humans we are easily distracted by the things around us. We live in a broken world that screams “look at me! look at me!” all the time. So we look, but by giving our attention first to Christ, and then to the world around us we are better able to see through the right lense and understand it for what it is. By listening to God before we listen to man, we allow the Holy Spirit to speak into our lives and teach us in all that we do.