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Jump Start # 3417

Posted on September 29, 2023 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 3417

Job 31:9-11 “If my heart has been enticed by a woman, or I have lurked at my neighbor’s doorway, may my wife grind for another, and let others kneel down over her. For that would be a lustful crime; moreover, it would be an iniquity punishable by judges. For it would be fire that consumes to Abaddon, and would uproot all my increase.”

Our verse, written a long, long time ago, warns of the temptation of sexual sins. The chapter begins with, “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze upon a virgin.” Then in our section, this continues by the enticing of the heart, the lurking in the wrong places and the consequences of such actions.

Recently, I heard my dear friend Don preach a very pointed sermon called, “Keeping sex sacred.” Powerful and very needful.

Here are some thoughts that we need to be honest with:

First, it’s time that we talk about these things. There is a way to talk about delicate and sensitive things like this. We must realize that the world is blunt, raw and in your face. While we are reluctant to talk about topics like this, the world isn’t. Your kids hear these things unfiltered and even obscene. Social media is filled with this topic. And, our silence from the pulpit leaves questions unanswered, direction not proved and helped not offered.

God is not silent on sexuality. Our reluctance to talk about these things leaves brethren unguided. What if we were to be silent on other important topics? Paul declared the whole counsel of God, and we must do the same. Sexuality is a major component in advertising, movies and music. Sex sells, is what advertisers say. It’s all around us and we must not bury our heads in the sand but honestly, Biblically and tactfully teach God’s people about this. Sexual temptation and sin is ruining many families today. God’s warnings, God’s principles and God’s guidance needs to be heard loud and clear. Our people need to know.

Second, Job, written likely during the time period of Genesis, knew the dangers of sexual temptation. Porn is not new to our times. The walls of many buildings in Pompeii displayed some very graphic images that were pornographic. The battle with lust is not a matter of keeping your clothes on. Lust, whether sexual, materialistic, which we might call greed, begins in the mind. The key to winning the battle over lust is winning the mind to Christ. One writer confessed years ago, “I looked at a Playboy magazine for twenty seconds, and the image stayed with me for twenty years.” It’s a battle for the mind. Transformed lives by the renewing of the mind is what the Romans were told. Set your mind on things above is what the Colossians were told. Let your mind dwell on what is true, honorable, right and pure is what the Philippians were told. Get the mind right, is where this all begins.

The addiction to porn is plaguing so many congregations and homes. We must return to practicing righteousness as John wrote in his first letter. Job made a covenant with his eyes. He began with the mind. He then moved to the eyes.

Here is a link to Don’s sermon: http://www.fishers-churchofchrist.b.congregateclients.com/resources/sermons/2023/09/17/keeping-sex-sacred.

Listen to it. Share it. Help others with it.

“Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous” (1 John 3:7).

Roger

28

Jump Start # 3416

Posted on September 28, 2023 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 3416

Amos 4:12 “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel.”

The words of our verse today are sobering. In a series of verses, God says five times to the nation, “yet you have not returned to Me” . The Lord sent calamity after calamity upon His wicked people. Plagues, fires, lack of water, bugs, similar to Egypt and similar to Sodom is what the Lord said. Yet the people would not return. They remained defiant, stubborn and rebellious.

Our verse thunders that the Lord was out of patience with them. The Lord was finished with them. Prepare to meet your God. This wasn’t going to be a pleasant meeting. This wasn’t going to be a good occasion. The nation was in trouble and God was calling them in to Him.

King Hezekiah was told by the prophet Isaiah to “set your house in order.” He was told that he was going to die. Hezekiah’s response was to turn to the wall and pray to God.

What profound statements: Set your house in order for you will die and Prepare to meet your God. Those words can send a chill through us. There is no fooling God. The Lord knows. In Hebrews we are reminded that we have a divine appointment. We can’t cancel that appointment. We can’t avoid that appointment. It is appointed for man to die once and then the judgment. Prepare to meet your God.

So, just how does one prepare? What needs to be done?

First, we must walk by faith. Our lives are intended to be spirit driven. Our thoughts. Our choices. Our words. Our attitudes. Our dreams. All of these things are viewed through Christ. The only difference between Sunday and Monday is that we are in the church building on Sunday. We live a worshipping life. We are prayerful. We are a people of His book. We understand that we are to be obedient to Him. Our eyes and our hearts are ever heavenward.

Even, in all of this, we will see failures in our lives. We will see that we haven’t done all that we could have. And, it’s by God’s amazing grace that we have hope. How do we prepare to meet God? It is through faith, trust and love.

Second, we live as if we have one foot already in Heaven. We are thinking about being with God all the time. This mindset, having the mind of Christ, shapes our heart and develops our character. It is this way that so much of the world doesn’t faze us, bother us, or impress us. We see beyond politics to know that our God sits upon the throne. We see through the fake and vain glitter that Satan puts before our eyes. These things will pass away, we know. The problems that tug on our hearts so much will one day be over. We know that.

How do we prepare to meet our God? We think about that. We anticipate that. We seek the mercy of God.

Third, we have a long and joyous history with God. Meeting God won’t be a first time occasion. We’ve met God in worship. We’ve met God in His word. We’ve met God in prayer. We have been with God and God has been with us. We’ve sought counsel through His word. We have poured our hearts out to Him. We have trusted Him, followed Him, loved Him, and longed to be with Him for a very long time.

God is not a stranger to us. We have confessed our most secret sins to Him. We have begged Him to forgive us. We have thanked Him, rejoiced with Him, and tried to imitate Him.

The story is told that before people met with the Queen of England, that they were escorted into a private room and told what to do and what not to do. One would not speak first. One does not look the queen in the eyes. What she does, you do. All of that was preparation to meet royalty.

Our high school students often take classes that prepare them for college. The material is harder and more is expected but it trains the student for what will come when they go to college.

Preparation to meet God comes from what we find in the Scriptures. The right heart, attitude and humility coupled with a desire to please the Lord in obedience gets one ready.

Prepare to meet your God—

Roger

27

Jump Start # 3415

Posted on September 27, 2023 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 3415

Isaiah 41:10 “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

First, let me say that I am alive. Second, let me say that it was amazing. Third, let me say that it was intense. Last Thursday I went sky diving. Yes, you read that right. Old me, went skydiving. It was not on my bucket list. It was not on any list of mine. My youngest son, Joel, works for a doctor. Last Christmas he bought the two of them skydiving gift certificates. The doc declined. Next in line was dear ole’ dad. All year we have kicked the can down the road of when we were going to do this. I happened to be in his area last week preaching so we scheduled it for last Thursday. My sweet wife offered to repay the price of the gift certificates if we wouldn’t go. She wasn’t worried about us going splat on the ground, but more so of having a stroke or heart attack on the way down.

So we did it. My son is fearless. I passed fearless many decades ago and am very cautious and conservative. I will say that it was amazing. We jumped tantum, which means an instructor is strapped very snugly to you. They got us all harnessed up and checked it two or three times by different people. Several were there to jump, but it was just Joel, myself, our tantum instructors, and two photographers who jumped first to take photos of us.

The side door of the plane opened, like a garage door. The first photographer jumped. My instructor scooted me to the opening. Before I could have a moment, out the door we fell. That part was scary, intense and I thought I was going to die. I had in my mind that as we free fell it would be like a roller coaster, so fast and scary. But it wasn’t. Even though we were falling fast, it was smooth and the view was amazing. He pulled the parachute cord and we floated like a feather all the way down. Joel was doing spins and hard turns as he came down, but I told my man that I didn’t want that.

We landed and realized what we had just done, we high fived our instructors and hugged each other. Would I do it again? I don’t think my wife has that in her to go through that again. I’m not sure I do either.

Our verse today reminds us of fearful times and anxious moments. Unlike sky diving, those moments most times are not willful choices that we make. A sudden car accident. A simple medical exam that leads to more tests and the dreaded word, “Cancer.” Fearful, anxious and unsure, our passage gives us four wonderful thoughts to carry in our hearts.

First, the text tells us more than do not fear. That’s hard to do when you are scared. But the way through that fear is to know that the Lord is with us. That’s the promise of Psalms 23 and those dark valleys of death. Daniel saw that. Shadrach saw that. Moses saw that. Noah saw that. Peter saw that. There were moments when they looked death in the face and were scared, but God was with them.

Second, do not anxiously look around you. Don’t look around, look up. Look up to the Lord. Looking around, we see all the reasons to be afraid. Outnumbered. Out armed. Out of options. When all we look at are our problems, then fear will get the best of us. Don’t look around, unless you are sky diving.

Third, I am your God. What a great statement of comfort and hope. He didn’t just say, “I am the Lord,” or “I Am that I Am.” Instead, the passage reminds us, the Lord is OUR God. Remember how Jesus taught the disciples to pray? “Pray this way,” He said. “Our Father who art in Heaven.” Our Father. Our God. There is a relationship. A belonging. A fellowship between us. He knows us and we know Him.

And, with God, all things are possible. And, with God, the greatest hope, help and love is found. Don’t be afraid. I am your God. Pray hard. Dig deeply into His word.

Fourth, I will strengthen you, I will help you. It’s one thing to have God near, but if He wasn’t going to do anything, we’d still fight our battles alone. But He is more than just there. He provides strength. He will help. He can open doors that seem impossible to open. He can move hearts that seem closed. He can put people together. When everyone else says, “there is no hope,” God can still do things. He sees what no one else sees. He is already in tomorrow.

Notice, the passage doesn’t say that God will take away the cause of our fear. That’s what we want. Remove it and then we will be find. Rather, God will help you and strengthen you so you can face it. Don’t run from your giants or lions. Face them. Face them, not on your own. Face them, not with your might. Rather, face them with God. The victory always belongs to the Lord.

For about 8,000 feet, last Thursday, I was falling rapidly to the earth. The chute opened, and I was like a bird drifting gently back to where I belong. And, the Lord kept me safe.

Roger

26

Jump Start # 3414

Posted on September 26, 2023 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 3414

Psalms 5:11 “But let all who take refuge in You be glad, let them ever sing for joy; and my You shelter them, that those who love Your name may exult in You.”

The name of God is precious to those who walk with Him. Throughout the Scriptures the name of God was honored, protected and connected to the very being of God. Within the Ten Commandments was the warning about taking the name of the Lord in vain. The expression, “in the name of,” is used to emphasize the authority of God. We baptize “in the name of” the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. That’s more than a catch phrase, it expresses and identifies what we are doing in baptizing is through the authority of God.

We live in a time when God’s name is trashed. People say God’s name when they don’t know what to say. When excited, they say God’s name. When angry, they say God’s name. Little thought is given to what they are actually saying. It’s just a word to many people and nothing more than a word.

But to the people of God, how special is His name. Our verse refers to those who “love Your name.” He is OUR Father. He is OUR God. And, we need to teach folks to honor that name in speech, conduct and attitude.

This brings us to a story I read recently in the Autobiography of Mark Twain. It’s a massive book of over 700 pages, with tiny print. And, it’s just volume one. There are two other volumes that go along with this.

As a young man, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) was working for a printer. The time was around the late 1840s.

The great reformer Alexander Campbell came to a small village in Kentucky. Twain writes, “The farmers and their families drove or tramped into the village from miles around to get a sight of the illustrious Alexander Campbell and to have a chance to hear him preach. When he preached in a church many had to be disappointed, for there was no church that would begin to hold all the applicants; so in order to accommodate all, he preached in the open air in the public square, and that was the first time in my life that I had realized what a mighty population this planet contains when you get them all together.” (pg 457).

There was a demand to have Campbell’s sermon put in print form. Under the pressure of trying to get the sermon booklet out, the printers ran into a snag. They had left out two words in a thin-spaced page and there wasn’t another break-line for two or three pages ahead. What in the world was to be done, Twain lamented. Overrun all those pages in order to get in the two missing words? The printer, Wales, came up with a solution. The two missing words were “Jesus Christ.” Wales reduced that to “J.C.” Everything fit and the booklet was printed.

A proof copy was given to Campbell to read. Twain writes, “Presently that great Alexander Campbell appeared at the far end of that sixty-foot room, and his countenance cast a gloom over the whole place. He strode down to our end and what he said was brief but it was very stern, and it was to the point. He said, ‘So long as you live, don’t ever diminish the Savior’s name again. Put it all in.’ He repeated this admonition a couple of times to emphasize it, then he went away.” (pg 458).

Campbell understood the value of the Lord’s name. It would costs more to make that adjustment, but it was worth it.

May we, in these casual times, honor and uphold the blessed name of our Lord.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all tha tis within me, bless His holy name” (Ps 103:1).

Roger

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Jump Start # 3413

Posted on September 25, 2023 by Jump Starts Daily in Jump Starts Daily | Tagged | Leave a comment

Jump Start # 3413

1 John 3:11-12 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;  not as Cain, who was of the evil one, and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.”

 

Cain and Abel—the first people born on earth. Brothers. They did not know Eden, but they knew of God. They came to sacrifice to God. Hebrews tells us by faith Abel offered a better sacrifice. Our passage in John’s letter, twice states that what Cane did was evil. It seems that some have the idea that Cain’s problem was a bad attitude. Had his attitude been better, God would have accepted the veggies he was offering. Such a conclusion doesn’t stand upon what the Bible teaches us about faith.

 

  Faith is not an attitude. Faith is conviction that is built upon what God says. How was it that Abel happened to offer a lamb? Lucky guess? Nothing else he had to offer? None of those. Faith, God tells us, comes from hearing God’s word. Faith is not a feeling. It is not an intuition. Faith is listening and doing what God says. The Lord must have told them. Abel obeyed and Cain didn’t. His disobedience made him evil.

 

 One can hear the cries today trying to justify Cain’s offering. Someone might say, “God never said, ‘No vegetables!’” We don’t know. But even if the Lord had not said that, He must have said, animal sacrifice. God doesn’t have to tell us No to everything. All He has to do is tell us what He wants.

 

  Another might say, fruit and vegetables look so much better than a bloody animal. UGH. I once ate trout for dinner. It came with head and eyeballs. I put my napkin over his head as I ate it. Yet, it doesn’t matter what sounds good to us. It is the Lord that the sacrifice is directed to.

 

  Someone might conclude, “I don’t see any harm in offer a few pieces of vegetables.” You might not. But, it’s not what the Lord wanted. The Corinthians were told, “We make it our ambition to please the Lord.”

 

  Cain’s mistake was that he offered the wrong gift. His mistake was in thinking that he could do what he wanted. And, his mistake was in the way he reacted to God’s displeasure. There is no sorrow for his wrong. There is no self examination. There are no prayers to God for mercy and forgiveness. Instead, he kills his brother. Did he think that would make his offering right with God?

 

  We find God speaking to Adam after he sinned. We find God speaking to Cain after he offered the wrong sacrifice. We find God speaking to Cain after Abel was murdered.

 

  Now, some conclusions we find:

 

  First, how you worship God is important. The Cain and Abel example tells us that God does not accept all worship. It might be amazing to us, but it may not be to God. It might thrill us, fill us, excite us and yet, displease Him. Worship is acceptable when we follow God’s word. The modern church has turned worship into a comedy hour and a rock concert. It fills the buildings, but does it fill Heaven with praise? Just throwing God’s name in a song, a skit, or a joke, doesn’t make it Biblical. When will we ever learn to do what God says? Why are we not content with the Bible as God wrote it? Why must we always be looking for the new, the different, the unusual? The problem isn’t worship as God designed it. The problem is our hearts and being satisfied with the Lord.

 

Second, faith is the only way to win the heart of God. The Lord isn’t impressed with numbers, volume or the things that we notice. Faith and righteousness is manifested in obeying God. Walk through the letter of 1 John and notice how often abiding in Him, knowing Him, loving Him is connected to keeping the commandments.

 

  Third, God will judge us for our actions. Don’t think that just having a wonderful attitude will excuse disobeying God. If attitude alone is all that matters, then forget preaching and teaching God’s word. But we know better.

 

  What Cain did was evil. That’s how God sees it. That’s how God called it. Some would think, “Well, you shouldn’t go that far. He could have done better, but he did the best he could.” Stop throwing the ball underhand and giving wrong a break. Wrong doesn’t deserve a break.

 

  Cain and Abel—powerful lessons that need to be learned, even in these days.

 

  Roger