06

Jump Start # 3694

Posted on November 6, 2024 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 3694

Jeremiah 29:7  Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.’

I write this last Friday. Yesterday was election day. And, today, if the results are known and final, there will be a mixture of emotions racing through the nation. Some will be dancing with delight. Others will be in despair. Some will claim the results were fixed and rigged. Millions and millions of dollars have poured into this election, buying ads to convince us who to vote for. For the candidates that lost, it will seem like a lot of money that went down the drain. For the winners, it will seem like money well spent.

And, now it is over. Will anything change? Will we even notice a difference? The national election has been billed as the election of a lifetime. Some have viewed it as the most important election in the country’s history.

Some perspectives for us:

First, as we read about the role that the Christian has to the government, especially Paul’s words in Romans and Peter’s words in his first letter, remember, the government they knew didn’t allow citizens to vote for the ruler. God’s people have seen oppressive rulers and difficult times. Egypt. Assyria. Babylon. Rome. The people of God have cried to the Lord because of the hardships that they endured. Persecuted. Driven from homes. Abused. Killed. God’s people have experienced the worst of rulers. Keep that in mind.

Second, when God sent Judah into Babylon as a form of punishment, God didn’t leave them alone. It wasn’t like being sent to your room for a while. God had instructions for them. Jeremiah wrote a letter to those exiled in Babylon. The words were not, “good luck, you are on your own now.” Rather, as our verse says so well, Judah was to seek the welfare of Babylon. They were to pray for Babylon’s welfare.

A hostile nation. Pagan. Offering foods that Judah could not eat. Given new names that were blasphemous and offensive. Forced to bow before idols. Threatened with death if they did not go along. These enemies were the ones who robbed God’s holy temple. They destroyed the city of David. They killed many. And, God was using them as punishers for His people.

And, what did God expect Judah to do while in captivity? Wait for a chance to break free? Nope. Overthrow the capital? No. Kill the king. Never. Judah was to be a blessing while there. They were to plant gardens, build houses and seek the welfare of the city. Three times in our verse today the word ‘welfare’ is used. The Hebrew is SHALOM—peace.

When the history of Babylon was written, one of the highlights would be the time Judah was there. Judah made Babylon better. The Babylonians did not have to keep an eye on Judah. They didn’t have to set more guards around them. Judah was a blessing. Among the enemy. A different culture. A different language. Judah was to pray and seek the welfare of this foreign place.

Should it be any different for us? We live in a world whose culture is so different than ours. While we may all speak English, we are not facing the same direction. There are things that are offensive to us here. There are things that are blasphemous. Are we to rebel? Are we to break free? Are we to riot? Instead, like Judah of old, God expects us to be a blessing to this land. We are to live, seeking the welfare of this country. We are to pray for the welfare of the land. And, when the history of this country is written, it ought to be said, that the time Christians were among us, was one of the best times. The Christians made this country a better place.

Now, are we seeking the welfare of this land, when we complain and post negative things on social media? If God expected more from His people in Babylon, what do you think He expects of us? Maybe we ought to pray more and gripe less. Maybe we ought to think how we can be a blessing to this place?

Our times need to see examples of marriages that thrive. People understand hatred and ugliness. They need to be shown grace, compassion and forgiveness. People live with dysfunction. They need to see how things work right. Unity, love and hope is something that God’s people can bring even in a culture that is so different.

The interesting flow in Jeremiah 29, is that God promises to bring His people back home to Judah. Be a blessing there, but don’t forget where your real home is. And, it’s no different for us. Be a blessing here, but don’t forget that our real home is in Heaven with God.

The election is over…but our work and our responsibilities have just begun.

Roger

05

Jump Start # 3693

Posted on November 5, 2024 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 3693

2 Kings 17:25 “At the beginning of their living there, they did not fear the Lord; therefore the Lord sent lions among them which killed some of them.”

Our verse today identifies the troubles that came to the city of Samaria. The Assyrian king removed Israel into exile and replaced the citizens with people from Babylon and other nations. And, as these new residents took over the city of Israel, they continued their pagan and idolatrous ways that they engaging in back home in Babylon. New address, but same old ways. So, the Lord sent lions. Lions came and killed many of them.

Sending lions is an interesting thought. It reminds us that God has the universe at His disposal. God can use any tool in His arsenal. Consider:

  • Two bears killed a group of young people who had mocked Elisha
  • Worms were used to kill Herod
  • Fire came down from Heaven and destroyed an army in the days of Elijah
  • God fed his prophet by birds bringing him food
  • God caused the earth to open up and swallow rebels in the days of Moses
  • God caused an earthquake to open prison doors for Paul
  • God used rain to destroy the earth in the days of Noah
  • Darkness, hail, bugs were among the plagues God used in Egypt
  • For Joshua, God caused the sun to stand still
  • For Hezekiah, God moved a shadow backwards
  • For Jonah, God created a great storm and prepared a great fish to swallow him
  • For Gideon, God used dew to be a sign
  • God spoke through Balaam’s donkey
  • God used a star to guide the wise men to Jesus
  • God made the sky to grow dark at the cross of Jesus
  • Peter pulled a coin out of a fish’s mouth to pay the tax

Now, pull some thoughts from all these examples.

First, God can use anything. Moving stars, stopping the sun, talking animals—all of these illustrate that God is the ultimate authority and the world is truly His. Just as one of us might pull out a screwdriver or hammer from a drawer of tools, God has all creation and all nature to use. Indeed, this is my Father’s world. While we are subject to nature and are unable to change things, God is not limited. What power He has.

Second, God can use people placed in our lives to teach us, show us, encourage us and remind us. We may consider some of these things as accidental or coincidences, God may have purposely placed them in our lives to help us. God brings people like Titus, to encourage the depressed. God can use a grandparent to remind us about getting down to the church house on Sunday. God can use a spouse to help us get our priorities in order. We all have had people in our lives who have made us better. Just lucky or was God doing things like that on purpose?

I don’t know how God decides to send a bear, a lion, a storm, or an earthquake. Which one is best? God knows. There are things we will never understand in these miraculous events. How could a donkey talk? How can the sun stand still and not create massive tidal waves and destruction? As you and I might open up an orange, God can open up the deep and let water come forth. All of this ought to amaze us.

Third, there was a purpose and an intention behind all these miraculous use of nature. God didn’t randomly send lions and bears. He didn’t just cause earthquakes for no reason. God used these tools to warn, punish or help His people. The justice of God, the will of God, the purpose of God are seen in all of these examples. God lives with intention. We need to do the same. We need to put thoughts behind our words. We need to consider the reasons why we do things.

These thoughts make me think of our VBS song, ‘My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing that He cannot do.” And, the greatest thing is that My God can save you.

Roger

01

Jump Start # 3692

Posted on November 1, 2024 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 3692

2 Chronicles 35:25 “Then Jeremiah chanted a lament for Josiah. And all the male and female singers speak about Josiah in their lamentations to this day. And they made them an ordinance in Israel; behold, they are also written in the Lamentations.”

Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, is shown here singing a song at the funeral for King Josiah. The king was dead. He was a good king. He had helped reform the nation. But what he did was not enough to keep the nation on course with God. Captivity was coming. Babylon would march through the cities and ransack the temple.

The CEB words our verse: “Jeremiah composed a funeral song for Josiah, and to this day every singer, man or woman, continues to remember Josiah n their funeral songs. They are not traditional in Israel and are written down among the funeral songs.”

Jeremiah the singer. Jeremiah, possibly a composer. Jeremiah leading the people in remembering a good man. Jeremiah recognizing the contributions and dedication of one who loved the Lord.

And, this leads us to some thoughts about funerals. Boy, I’ve been a part of a lot of funerals through the years. Some, I never knew the person. Those are hard. Some, were for dear friends. Those are hard. I preached the funeral for both of my parents. Those were hard. I spoke at a special memorial for mothers who had miscarriages. That was touching and sad. I’ve seen laughter, tears, and great hope and faith at funerals.

There has been a cultural shift in funerals. Celebration of life, is commonly what they are called today, with very little reflection to the Scriptures or eternity with God. Many funeral homes now have liquor licenses to accommodate the changing culture about what is important in a secular world. Solomon’s words about the value of going to the house of mourning because the living take it to heart, seems to have fallen on deaf ears these days. The living doesn’t take it to heart. These days the living tries to ignore the reality of what has happened.

Jeremiah chanted a lament for Josiah.

Some thoughts for us:

First, it is at the funeral that we learn the right perspectives in life. Sometimes it takes a funeral for some to see those lessons. What do we find at funerals? Lots of pictures of the deceased surrounded by family and friends. We see flowers. We see people who care. We don’t see a bunch of stuff. Because at that moment, stuff really doesn’t matter. And, you can’t take the stuff with you.

Second, it is at funerals that we are forced to wonder and even ask questions to ourselves. Is this it? Does everyone go to Heaven? What happens now? Even with the laughter, smiles and hugs, there is a solemn aspect of funerals that one cannot escape. Someone has died. Life for them here is over. That person is not coming back. And it is that finality of life that brings a person to wonder, “What’s the point?” And, without a God focused heart, there really isn’t an answer to that question. We live, work a long time, and if lucky, get to retire and not have the money run out. Then we die. And, for those absent of God, in their minds, that’s it. And, when that person is young, it sure seems like life cheated him.

Third, it is at funerals that many think about Heaven for the first time. They want their loved one to be in Heaven. No matter how they lived, what they did, what they believed, it is at the funeral that the audience wants that person in Heaven. Their concept of Heaven may be fishing, drinking alcohol, and having a good time, but that’s where they believe they are. It’s a fantasy based solely upon feelings and nothing else. Most having never thought of it before, are embracing a form of old universalism, in which everyone is saved and no one is lost. No one, except maybe the worst of the worst.

But thinking about Heaven is a good thing. Set your minds on things above the Colossian brethren were told. The Philippians understood that they belonged to Heaven. Citizenship was not in Rome, but in Heaven. Thinking about Heaven, ought to lead us to making changes in our hearts and our behavior. We ought to live as if one foot is already in Heaven.

For the child of God, death is nothing more than a door that we go through to get to the other side. It’s the other side where we want to be. To get there, you have to pass through a door.

Jeremiah chanted a lament for Josiah.  It was a time to reflect upon a good life. It was time to remember what the Lord has said. It was a time to think about the eternal.

Roger

01

Jump Start # 3691

Posted on November 1, 2024 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump start # 3691

2 Kings 25:30 “and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, a portion for each day, all the days of his life.”

Our verse today ends the book of 2 Kings, or simply, Kings, as it is referred to in older translations. It tells of Jehoiachin’s prison time. Jerusalem had been conquered by Babylon and Judah’s king was put in prison. In exile for 37 years, a new Babylonian king granted kindness and favor to him. A better place to stay. He was allowed to dine with the king on a regular basis and given the comfort of better clothes and conditions.

And, with our verse, second Kings ends. There is a momentum that builds as one reads through different books of the Bible. It’s not just checking off a box that one has finished that book, but there is the satisfaction that comes from staying with it, even though Satan throws all kinds of distractions and excuses to not read today.

With that, let us consider a few thoughts:

First, there is something to be said about having read the entire Bible. I have my sweet dad’s Bible. When I open it, it smells like his house, which I miss. Penciled throughout the pages are dates. Those are the dates that he was reading that section of Scripture. Many places will have two dates. Different dates. He was reading through a second time.

In these days, many have given up reading. The majority of college grads never read a book again the rest of their lives. Videos have replaced reading. People are told what to think. What an amazing thing to say that you have read the Bible cover to cover.

Second, reading the Bible changes a person. One learns history and sees human nature, the good and the ugly, repeated over and over in the Bible story. But more than that, a person comes to learn God. And, what they see is that God is engaged in the history of our world. One sees that God really longs for us to know Him and walk with Him. And, the more time spent in the Bible, the more our character is shaped and formed. Our words get toned down. Our attitudes straighten up. Our hearts become more compassionate. The more that the word of God runs through our hearts, the less we worry. The more we stand upon the word of God, the more assured and confident we become, not in ourselves, but in the God who can do all things.

Third, as one finishes one book of the Bible, there is the drive to read on to the next book of the Bible. Looking at the table of contents, Genesis through Nehemiah is the straight history of the O.T. All the books after Nehemiah fit in between somewhere. Understanding where and how the books fit helps as one reads the Bible. Some books of the Bible were written the same times as others. Some books refer to others. Like giant puzzle pieces, they each have their own place and story, but connecting to the other books, they tell one big story of Jesus coming to redeem us to God. Each book has it’s place. Each book is essential.

For those who are not familiar with the Bible, it can seem overwhelming. So many pages. So big. So many names, places and things that seem so different from our world. You can help someone new to the Bible by guiding them. Recommend a starting place. Helping them to see how all the books fit together.

Spending a few moments each day in God’s word, little as it seems, in time that book is read. It reminds me of Jimi, the man who simply read the Bible through while on death row. He became a Christian by just doing what the Bible says. No preacher. No classes. No tracts. Just, the word of God. He was baptized by prison guards. He requested that because of what he read in the Bible. It worked then and it works today. Jimi was executed last year. But Jimi’s heart was changed by the power of God’s word.

God’s word still holds that power and it can still bring each of us to the Lord. The last page. The last page of a book. And, as one concludes the final page in God’s book, he will realize that we do not have a final page to our story. The promises of God ring true about eternal life in Jesus Christ.

Get into that book—spend some time there. Keep reading. Underline words as you read. Think about what you read. And, staying with it, you’ll soon finish that book. Read the Bible cover to cover. What a wonderful blessing that is.

How many times have you read the Bible through? Some do it every year.

Roger

31

Jump Start # 3690

Posted on October 31, 2024 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 3690

Mark 4:41 “And they became very much afraid and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?’”

It’s Halloween. Here and there one sees skeletons in yards, horror movies on TV and costumes that are so real that they seem real. I’ve got neighbors who really get into Halloween. They create a mini cemetery in their yards. Some have giant spiders hanging over the mailboxes.

Our verse today, taken from a section in Mark where there are a series of fast moving miracles, calming the storm, flowing into the next chapter and the casting out multiple of demons. The emotions within these two powerful sections are hard to fully understand. The disciples thought that they were about to die in the storm. They awaken a sleeping Jesus and say, “Do you not care that we are perishing?” Putting that into our words today, “We are about to die!” Have you ever been that scared? And, as Jesus calms the storm, our verse appears. They become “very much afraid.” This wasn’t due to the storm. The storm was over. They ought to be breathing easier now. They ought to be reflective and calming down. Instead, it’s just the opposite. Their fear level climbed.

And, as we turn the page in Mark, here comes this wild looking, naked man running towards them, screaming. I’d be back in the boat, if I were them. The text doesn’t tell us that they were afraid, but is that necessary? Can’t you imagine it and see it? What was this man going to do?

Now, on a night in which children dress up and go door to door to get candy, scary music and movies fill the air, it might be good to reflect about fear. We might get a moment of scare when a child hides behind a door and pops out to our surprise. We might get scared for a moment when a car nearly hits us. But those moments pass quickly and we don’t dwell upon them. In contrast, multiple times in the Gospels we find the disciples afraid.

  • Seeing Jesus walking on the water, they became afraid
  • At the transfiguration, the three disciples were ‘very much afraid.’
  • At the tomb, the angel spoke to the women and said, “Do not be afraid’
  • When the shepherds in the field saw the angels who came to announce the birth of Jesus, they became terribly frightened.

We don’t get scared much these days. I can only imagine what sitting through a hurricane would be like. Last year, I went sky diving and the moment I left the plane, that was scary. But most days, things are pretty calm and normal. Here are some thoughts:

First, fear reminds us that there are things beyond our control. Storms. Death. Crime. Violence. Many people have had to face terrifying things. Daniel in a lion’s den. The three Jewish men being thrown into a fiery furnace. Israel seeing the coming Egyptians, while they had a massive sea in front of them. Jonah inside the giant fish.

Sometimes, the fear is imagined. What if I run out of money when I am retired? What if the kids no longer want to visit? What if I have to go to a nursing home? And, those unknown and imagined fears can be as real as a thump in the night.

Second, it’s hard for others to understand your fear. When I read our verse today, it doesn’t make me fearful. I have the rest of the N.T. I know how the story ends. I know what happens. They didn’t. And, so it is with each other. I don’t understand the fear that a new widow has when she walks into an empty house and has no one to talk to. I don’t understand the fear that the parents of a prodigal live every day. What is it like to have more bills than money and more problems than options?

I may not understand your fear. But I can be there for you. I can pray with you. I can hold your hand. I can listen to you. I may not think you have anything to fear, but I am not in your shoes. Fear tends to lessen when we are with others.

Third, the one sure solitude is that God is greater than anything we fear. God is greater than death. He conquered it. God is greater than any health issue. God can be with us and is with you, when others cannot. When you walk into that dark, empty house, God is with you. When there is no one to talk to, He is there. He hears. When the medical results do not turn out favorably, God is there. His promises are sure. His word is comfort. His way is absolute.

On a night which people try to scare, remember the greatest fright is dying without knowing the Lord. Our choices. Our steps. Our decisions. They take us closer to the Lord and with the Lord or they ignore the Lord. But one day, we will stand before the throne of God. It will be a great day for those who have trusted the Lord and walked close to Him. It will be sheer terror for those who have closed their eyes to the Lord.

Fear—sometimes it can lead to good things.

Roger