The Flying Bible

“…but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

 (Psalm 1:2)

Teaching youth Sunday school can often be tough. You honestly only have a certain amount of time before you lose their attention or they lose consciousness. Especially when the lesson is on the importance of spending time reading what many of them think is an ancient and outdated book that they can't understand. 

One Sunday morning I was teaching a class of  10th- 12th grade, youth boys like I had for  years. With questions like “Why does the Bible matter” those boys looked like street gang members who were forced to take part in a knitting class. Eyes rolling back in their heads, yawns and head bobs gave an indication that they couldn't care less. 

While in that situation, something came to mind, a little odd and uncomfortable for me, but I felt as though it was Spirit lead. I took my Bible and threw it like a football across the room. As it hit the concrete floor ever boy had their eye on that Bible as it slide to the wall on the opposite end of the room. Then every head turned to me, eyes and mouths wide open, looked like they had seen a squirrel with four heads. They were murmuring amongst themselves, greatly shocked that their Sunday school teach seemed to have just snapped. 

I looked at the boys and said, “Did that bother y'all, that I threw the Bible?” Their reply was a resounding “YES!! You’re not suppose to treat the Bible like that!!” So I stood up, went across the room picked up my Bible, brought it back to my seat, laid it in the floor and stood on it. Jumped up and down on it a couple of times. I thought they would lose their ever-loving minds. Gasp went up, some said “WHAT ARE YOU DOING, THAT’S THE BIBLE!!” I picked it up, dusted it off and sat down.

I told them that the book I had in my hand was no different than any other book as far as,  It had a leather outside cover, it was filled with paper pages and the pages had ink printing on them. 

I asked them “What makes this book unique?” They thought for a moment and one said, “Because it’s the word of God”. He was correct. I then asked the boys, “Why did it bother you so bad that I threw, stood on and jumped on this book?”  Again one said, “It's the word of God”.  So I asked them all, “Is this book the word of God?” They all quickly sad “Yes!” Then I told them, “I would bet that not one of you have picked up your copy of God’s word and studied it this week. Some of you haven't read it in a month. Some may have never read it at all and possibly some of you don't even know where your’s is. But yet it bothered you that I threw what you call the word of God”. Needless to say for the rest of the class time they were wide awake and attentive. 

What have you done with God’s word? Do you study it? Does it make a difference in your life? When is the last time you picked it up? Do you know where it is? 

Psalm 1 tells us that the person who is blessed, meditates on God’s word day and night. That doesn't mean they sit and read all day, it means that what they study, they think about, they apply it in their lives and they allow God to word through it to change their lives. It also says that that person is like a tree planted by streams of water and that that person will bear fruit and prosper. 

Are you missing out on the fruit bearing and prospering? Are you struggling in your faith and your walk with God? Pick up His word and make studying it a vital part of your life. 

Vern

It's Yo Birthday

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David
a Savior, who is Christ the Lord"

(Luke 2:11)

Imagine that you just woke up to a bright, sunny day. You stretch as you get out of bed, and you remember that this isn’t just any ordinary day, it's your birthday. Excitement fills your heart. You look forward to all the celebration that comes with this special day, as people celebrate the day you entered the world.

When you walk into the kitchen you hear your spouse and kids softly talking, but quickly stop with sheepish looks on their faces when they see you. Then you know something is up. Maybe they are planning you a surprise party. Your excitement builds as you get ready and head to work. 

As you walk into work you notice everyone bunched up talking. But just like at home when they notice you, they all just go quiet and scatter. “Well, well“ you think, “This is going to be a big party” and again your excitement grows. 

All day long you feel like a kid inside and you can't wait to get home to a surprise party. Just before you leave work, your boss asks you to stay over for a few minutes, he never asks that. And oddly enough your wife calls and asks you to pick up milk and bread on your way home. But you just got milk and bread two days before. Oh well, you just play along, you know it's all about your surprise party. 

You finally pull into the neighborhood and you are now ecstatic, you can hardly contain the childlike laughter and giggles. When your house comes into view you see cars filling the drive and flowing out into the street. You see the lights are all on and through the window you see a full house. You laugh to yourself, “I got here a little early than they thought. Believe I'll give them a surprise as I walk in”. 

You get to the door and you hear everyone talking and music playing, you burst in the door and to your surprise, everyone is eating and drinking. They are talking and dancing, pretty much ignoring you. Now some do acknowledge you with a head nod, some speak, but for the most part everyone acts like it's not even a party for you. Your heart breaks. You’re beside yourself. You think “Don't they know who's birthday it is? I mean they are in my house!!” 

Finally you say loudly, “Hey!! What's going on! I thought this party was for me??!!” All the guests stop, the music stops, and one of the guests says “It is. We know it's your birthday”. You reply, “Then shouldn't I be brought in, a silly party hat put on my head and then have everyone singing the Birthday song to me? Shouldn't I be the center of this celebration?”  The guests all just laugh and one says, “we don't need you to celebrate your birthday”. And everyone just laughs again. You stand there amazed  at what you just heard. You feel like at anytime the Twilight Zone theme song will start playing. You are heartbroken. Celebrating YOUR birthday, without YOU? Crazy huh? 

The overwhelming majority of people this year will celebrate the Christmas season, without even a head nod at Jesus. When you celebrate Christmas this year, keep the reason for the celebration, the center of the celebration. On Christmas we celebrate the birth of our savior Jesus. The Way, the Truth and the Life. God’s gift to this world. 


Vern 

Believe It Or Not

"So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer."

(Galatians 3:9)

What actually saves us? The first step to true salvation, is understanding what true salvation is.

In Galatians 3 Paul gives us an accurate explanation of what truly saves. He uses Abraham as his example.

Back in Genesis 15, God informs Abram that He was going to make a great nation out of him. He took Abram outside and said, 

"Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them’ And He said to him, ‘so shall your descendants be."

The next verse is the key,

“Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.” 

God “reckoned” him or believed him to be righteous or justified before God. In other words, he was okay with God. God gave him a stamp of approval.

But why does it say that God called him righteous? It says, because he “believed in the LORD.” His belief in what God told him was what saved him. Hebrews 11:1-2 says,

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval”. 

Paul tells us that God saves us the same way.

In Galatians 3:8 it says, 

“The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU." 

God knew that this promise to Abram would be the way that Gentiles and Jews, would be saved. God made a promise to all of us, just as He did to Abram, and like Abram, we are found righteous when we believe.

Wait! That’s too simple, that’s dangerously too simple. What if people think that all they have to do to be saved is…believe? 

Well, true salvation will make you free. Free from the law and if someone teaches anything other than salvation through faith alone, they are not teaching true salvation. But with that said, I guess Calvin said it best,

“Faith alone saves…but saving faith is never alone”. 

This is what James was speaking of when he said, “Faith without works is dead”. Now, isn’t that in conflict with what Paul is talking about here? Not at all, Paul is speaking about the root of salvation and James is speaking about the fruit of salvation. Paul is speaking on how to be saved and James is speaking on the evidence of true salvation.

When a person truly believes that Jesus is the only way to Heaven, realizing that they are a sinner and they repent, turning to God for salvation, then that is the only way to be saved. That person at that time is indwelled with the Holy Spirit and that person’s life will be changed. If there is no evidence of salvation, then there is no salvation. 

We worry so much about whether someone truly accepted Christ, so much so that we try to put restrictions on them accepting Christ in the first place. We sometimes turn it into a works process; you have to do these certain things to be saved. But we need to remember that to truly be saved we need to purely believe, believe the promise that God gave us in His Son Jesus Christ, that He is our only hope and salvation, there is no other way.

I use to love this show called “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” They would show all kinds of bizarre things & most were very hard to believe. At the end of each clip and Jack Palance was the best at this, in his tough, raspy voice, he would look into the camera and say “Believe it or not”. 

God made us a promise, one that seems a little bizarre, one that seems too good to be true. One that is honestly, hard to believe. That He would give His one and only Son to pay the debt for those who continually turn from Him and mock His name. That he would give salvation freely to those He knows will outright reject His more than generous offer. But still He holds out His gift to you and me with these words, “Believe it or not”.

Vern

Your Manger Matters

“And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” 

(Luke 2:7)

This morning I was out making a manger for a friend’s Christmas yard decoration. Now whether or not it would be the exact type that Jesus was laid in or what, I don't know, but it's just a decoration, (that's for the people that think way too deep).

While making this manger, I was listening to Pandora Radio on my phone and to get into the Christmas spirit, I had it on the Traditional Christmas station. I love old Christmas songs sung by the greats, and I can't stomach “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer” for even a second. LOL 

Nothing feels more Christmassy than constructing a manger with joyful Christmas songs blaring in the background. 

As I was on my knees staining my project, a beloved instrumental came on, “Silent Night” , my brush froze. I froze. I stared at the manger, with one thought on my mind. This is what my King was sleeping in. This was my Savior’s crib. But then I wondered, “What was the guy who built the manger Jesus was laid in thinking when he constructed it?” Probably how mundane the work was. Probably not thinking anything at all other than that the animals needed it to eat out of. 

But then one night maybe he heard some shepherds talking. They seemed very excited and were praising God like he had never heard. They were talking about their experience in the field and how the angels lit up the night sky, giving them the news of  the savior being born in Bethlehem. Then one said, “Can you imagine, the King of the world, the messiah lying in that manger?” He may have said to them in a shocked voice, “What manger? Which stable?” And when they pointed the way, he may have went to see for himself thinking, “Imagine, a feeding trough that I made with my own hands…a crib for the Savior of the world?”

When he was building it he thought it was just a feeding trough for the animals, but God through his hands was building a crib for His Son. 

Remember that the work you do, even when it seems meaningless or like it's menial work, that the man who built the manger may have felt the same. Let all of your work be for Gods glory, no matter the task, because your manger, matters. 

Vern