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The Walk of Faith

“Enoch walked with God” (Genesis 5:22). For this reason “he was commended as one who pleased God” (Hebrews 11:5). He stands out in his generation because he walked with God. His name appears in a context where every life ended in death. Except for Enoch’s.

I heard about a man who said to his wife, “I think I will go to church with you today.” This was surprising to her because he had never professed faith in Christ and he had previously shown little interest in spiritual things. She started to worry. What will the sermon be about? What scriptures will be read? Will the people be friendly to him?

When the scripture reading was announced, her heart sank. It was Genesis 5. The chapter contains a long list of ancient names. There is no gospel in that chapter. Only the refrain after each name, “and he died.” Surprisingly her husband continued to go to church with her.

After a few more weeks he professed his faith in Jesus and became a Christian. She asked him what it was that got him thinking about his need of salvation. He told her it was the reminder of the reality of death in the reading of Genesis 5.

Enoch appears in that chapter which describes the generations on earth before the great flood. Everyone in that chapter experienced death. But not Enoch. He is described as the man who walked with God and then one day, God miraculously took him to heaven.

Relationship

The New Testament compares the Christian life to a walk. Christians are called to walk by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7), to walk in love (Ephesians 5:2), to walk in the light (1 John 1:7), and to walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16). This is possible only if one has a relationship with God. Enoch was a man of faith. He trusted in God. Hebrews 11:5 says that he pleased God. He had a relationship with God.

The next verse tells us, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). To seek God is to come to him on his terms and to trust in him. Enoch sought God and he was rewarded with a relationship.

Witness

The New Testament tells us that Enoch was a prophet who preached against ungodliness (Jude 14-15). We have no idea how Enoch prepared his sermons, or where he delivered them. But I believe nobody in his world would have an excuse for not believing in God. He was a faithful witness.

Reward

“By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death; he could not be found, because God had taken him away” (Hebrews 11:5). The account in Genesis says, “Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away” (Genesis 5:24). One day Enoch went for his walk with God and he never came back home. God had taken him to heaven without his having to die.

This is a glorious picture of what will happen to the believers who are alive on earth when Jesus raptures his church. They will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air along with believers who will be raised from the dead. “And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

Two questions

Are you walking with God? The word “walk” is a metaphor for faithful Christian living, or living in fellowship with God. To have fellowship with God one must have a relationship with God. That is possible only through faith in Jesus Christ.

Are you looking forward to Christ’s return? Jesus is coming again. Are you ready to meet him? Remember that God rewards those who seek him by faith.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

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Only One Way

It has been said that true faith involves trusting God and obeying God in spite of feelings, circumstances and consequences. In fact, it is sometimes hard to live by faith if these three things are conspiring against us.

Feelings, for example, can be deceptive. They come and go. Some days we feel that all is well and others, well, not so much. Some people are tempted to doubt God’s love for them. I have found myself in spiritual conversations with folks who lack assurance of salvation because they do not “feel” that they are in a right relationship with God. Feelings can get in the way of faith when we put more confidence in our emotions than in the promises of scripture.

Difficult circumstances, such as illness, unemployment, broken relationships, financial hardship, grieving the death of someone close, or any of many possible disappointments, can sometimes be barriers to faith. Some people make excuses like, “If only this would work out for me then I would trust God more.”

Outcomes, results, or consequences may lead some people to try to bargain with God. “If I could just see ahead to how this would turn out, then it would be easier to have faith.” We don’t always find it easy to trust God for the outcome, but that is what he asks of us. He alone knows the future.

The men and women who are listed in Hebrews 11 are noted for their faith. They trusted God despite emotions, circumstances, and consequences of their decisions. The people in this biblical hall of fame built their lives on the foundation of faith. Because of this God was able to use them in significant ways, and they are examples to us of what it means to live by faith.

Take Abel as an example (Hebrews 11:4). He represents the right approach to God in worship. He is contrasted with his brother Cain. In this contrast we are introduced to two value systems, two religions, two means of worship. The background to their story is Genesis 4:1-7.

God accepted Abel’s sacrifice and rejected Cain’s. We are not told the reason why, but we may safely assume that God had called them to worship in a specific place and time and according to a prescribed procedure. The story in Genesis tells us that Abel’s offering involved blood sacrifice and this was acceptable to God.

Cain’s offering did not meet with God’s approval. He apparently assumed one way of approach to God is as good as another. The New Testament calls this “the way of Cain” (Jude 11). This self-righteous attitude is still with us today. There are many people who think they can approach God the way Cain did, by offering to God the works of their hands. But the Bible says there is no one who can be good enough or do enough good to be acceptable to a holy God.

If we read this story in the light of subsequent biblical teaching, it seems that Abel’s offering was acceptable because it involved substitution, an innocent sacrifice taking the place of the guilty sinner. “In fact the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22). This is why “In him (Jesus) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Ephesians 1:7).

The Genesis account of Abel and Cain did not end well for Abel. Cain murdered his brother. This shows that the life of faith can be costly and difficult. But in spite of feelings, circumstances and results, Abel worshipped God in a manner that was acceptable. God gave Abel the highest possible commendation. “By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead” (Hebrews 11:4).

Raymond Brown has written, “Although Abel was murdered by his evil brother, he is still speaking; the story of his faithful achievement speaks to people in every generation, not only about the quality of their offering to God, but also their motivation. Is the outward offering of worship, money and service a genuine expression of our love and commitment? God sees not only the value of the sacrifice, but the heart of the giver.”

Brown adds this additional truth for our learning: “Abel speaks to (us) still more clearly by reminding us of the most important offering of all, ‘the sprinkled blood’ of Christ” (Hebrews 12:24) who, although he was murdered by the angry and jealous successors of Cain, was not like Abel, the helpless victim of sudden hate. His entirely voluntary sacrifice was both determined and approved by God.”

Abel’s faithful witness is a reminder that for us there is only one way of approach to God. It is through the sacrificial blood of the Lamb of God.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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A Sixth Sense

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.” (Hebrews 11:1-2)

There is a sense in which all people live by faith every day. Society is built upon a foundation of faith. We drink water from a faucet in perfect confidence that it is safe to drink. We eat food in a restaurant trusting that it is not contaminated. We place our lives in the hands of surgeons with faith in their training and experience, We board huge airplanes with confidence in the reliability of the airline, the pilot and the mechanics who serviced the plane.

This is how faith operates. It willingly accepts and acts on things it does not understand. The heroes of the Bible are distinguished by their faith in God. They had faith in the invisible God and they trusted him to keep his word. Their exceptional faith marked them as examples to us of how to live by faith in God. Hebrews chapter 11 gives us a list of some of these heroes of faith.

The chapter begins with an explanation of faith. It tells us what faith can do. The text says “Faith is being sure of what we hope for” (Hebrews 11:1).  “Being sure” is a translation of a word which means “to stand under.” In Bible times this word was used of a title deed which stood under and validated a commercial transaction. So faith is said to be the foundation upon which our future rests. It is assurance that God will give the eternal life that we hope for.

Abraham had this kind of assurance. “Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded  that God had power to do  what he had promised” (Romans 4:20-21).

Like Abraham, we are offered the gift of righteousness and acceptance before God. This comes through faith in Jesus Christ. “Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1-2).

It is faith in God which gives us hope for the future. It is not faith in ourselves or other people, or faith in politics, or faith in horoscopes, astrology, or any other new age mumbo jumbo. People exercise faith in these things all the time. But to have acceptance with God our faith must be placed in the right object. “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).

When we exercise saving faith in this way, it leads to certainty. Hebrews 11:1 says we may be “certain of what we do not see.” What do we not see as yet? We cannot see the future. We cannot see God. He is invisible. We do not yet see the all the events connected to the second coming of our Lord Jesus. But by faith we live in confident expectation of the fulfillment of his promises. “We live by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). “Hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not already have, we wait for it patiently” (Romans 8:24-25).

This is illustrated in the stories of biblical people who exhibited faith in God. “This is what the ancients were commended for” (Hebrews 11:2). They gained God’s approval because of their faith and they are held up to us as examples. To be sure, they were not perfect people. When you read their life stories in the Old Testament, you discover that they had moral blind spots like the rest of humanity and there were times when they failed spiritually.

But they were approved by God for one reason: their faith. That is what Hebrews 11 is  all about. It gives us the stories of people who were forgiven, restored, made new. In each of these examples, God gave witness to their faith. This was his stamp of approval on their lives.

One of the things we discover when we read about the faithful in Hebrews 11 is that faith is like a muscle. It must be exercised in order to grow stronger. For us now, it begins by having faith in Jesus as savior. Faith grows through the reading and study of the Bible. Our faith is nourished when we keep company with other people of faith. In addition, we may pray as the disciples of Jesus prayed, “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5).

God has given us five senses by which to live on the human level, sight, hearing, taste, smell, and feeling. But they are not adequate to help us reach the divine. We need what John Wesley called “a sixth sense,” which is faith. It is faith which puts us in touch with divine reality. It is faith in the divine-human Jesus. It is faith in the promises to be found in the divine-human book, the Bible. It is faith which God approves. It is faith which God rewards. It is faith which makes us “certain of what we do not see.”

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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Martin Luther’s Favorite Text

“The righteous will live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4)

Writer Frank Boreham invites us to visit two European libraries. The first, in Erfurt, Germany, displays a famous painting of  Martin Luther as a young Augustinian monk. In the painting it is early morning and the sunlight beams through a window lattice. The young scholar is poring over the scriptures from which a broken chain is hanging. The light rests on the words, “The just shall live by faith.”

In the second library, under a glass case, lies the manuscript of a letter by Dr. Paul Luther, the youngest son of Martin Luther. It reads: “In the year 1544 my late dearest father, in the presence of us all, narrated the whole story of his journey to Rome. He acknowledged with great joy that in that city, through the Spirit of Jesus Christ, he had come to the knowledge of the truth of the everlasting gospel. It happened in this way. As he repeated his prayers on the Lateran staircase, the words of the prophet Habakkuk came suddenly to his mind: ‘The just shall live by faith!’ Thereupon he ceased his prayers, returned to Wittenberg and took this as the chief foundation for all his doctrine.”

Frank Boreham wrote: “This text made Martin Luther and the text that made Luther made history with a vengeance.” He was converted and given assurance that he was saved by faith in Christ alone. When that happened God changed the humble priest working in a small German city, into the mighty reformer who changed the course of world history. “It was as though all the windows of Europe had been suddenly thrown open, and the sunshine came streaming in everywhere,” wrote Boreham.

“The text that made Martin Luther” is repeated three times in the New Testament as the underpinning for the doctrine of justification by faith. It is quoted in Romans 1:17 to support Paul’s teaching on the righteousness of God as a free gift of faith. It is quoted in Galatians 3:11 to emphasize how believers are to live under grace and not under legalism. Hebrews 10:38 quotes the Habakkuk text to introduce the priority of faith, “But my righteous one will live by his faith.”

This text, echoed three times in the New Testament was echoed three times in the experience of Martin Luther. At Wittenberg, as a young priest he was heartbroken over his sins. In his cell, he would rise early in the morning to study. He encountered Romans 1:17 with fascination. Later he wrote, “This means that eternal life is the gift of faith.”

Years passed. He traveled to the Benedictine Convent at Bologna, across the Alps. He was very sick. fever left him deranged, depressed, and in fear of death. Visions of hell and judgment terrified him. At the very moment his terrors reached their highest pitch, the Holy Spirit brought to his mind the phrase, “The just shall live by faith.” Boreham wrote that Luther was comforted, restored and was able to resume his journey.

At Rome he was seeking to do penance for his sins. The Pope had issued a decree that all who would ascend the Lateran Staircase on their knees would be issued an indulgence (a certificate of release from Purgatory). Luther thought that he could perform this meritorious act to appease God’s wrath. So  this good Saxon monk crept painfully up the stairs thinking that his pain and blood would satisfy God’s justice. He had been taught that by torturing himself in this way that he could turn away God’s judgment.

While he was doing this, the words of Habakkuk 2:4 came to mind again, “The just shall live by faith.” According to the stories, Luther got up off his knees believing that he was not saved by religious merit or acts of devotion, no matter how well-intended. He was saved completely and entirely by faith in the merit and worth of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross.

Boreham quoted Luther: “When by the Spirit of God I understood these words — ‘The just shall live by faith! The just shall live by faith!’ — then I felt born again like a new man; I entered through the open doors into the very Paradise of God!. . . In very truth this text was to me the true gate of Paradise!”

(From the book, A Frank Boreham Treasury, edited by Peter F. Gunther)

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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Safe in the Storm

The reason I did not post a blog entry last week is because we were without power for several days due to Hurricane Idalia. The nation was watching as the storm made landfall Wednesday, August 30, in Florida’s Big Bend area as a category 3 hurricane packing winds of 125 mph.

The Weather Channel had meteorologists and camera crews here in Valdosta, Georgia, because we were in the path of the storm. We were warned of high winds, serious damage, and loss of power, perhaps for several days. Sure enough, the storm crossed into South Georgia about 10:00 am with winds exceeding 100 mph.

The wind was howling outside as Connie and I were watching the Weather Channel when suddenly the screen went black and the house went dark. We hunkered down for several hours with no air conditioning, no lights, and no refrigeration, praying that our own and our neighbors’ houses would be spared serious damage.

The violent storm blew all Wednesday afternoon. Connie and I are grateful that our house withstood the fury, except for a few shingles on the roof and a section of back fence which was blown over. My rain gauge measured seven inches of rainfall in our back yard.

Late in the day I went for a walk around the neighborhood. I heard the humming of gasoline generators powering several of my neighbors’ houses. Debris was everywhere but in our area it appeared that the houses remained in good shape.

Later I learned that 90% of Lowndes county was without power. Over a thousand power poles snapped. Hundreds of large trees were uprooted. Some of them fell on houses in Valdosta. Roads and streets were blocked by fallen trees and downed power lines. Needless to say, many retail businesses were unable to open until power was restored.

Connie and I left town to stay in a motel Thursday night to escape the heat and darkness. On Friday the Lord provided another place with air conditioning for us to stay overnight. Power was restored to our neighborhood late on Saturday, September 2, a blessing we appreciate now more than ever.

The experience has been a sobering reminder of what dependent creatures we are. We are dependent on God for life and health and the provision of our daily needs. We are dependent on other people for their help and expertise. Psalm 148:8 refers to the “stormy winds that do his (God’s) bidding.” Maybe one reason the Lord allows storms is to remind us of how much we need him.

As I was throwing out spoiled food from the refrigerator, I was reminded of how blessed we are to have an abundance of food in this nation of plenty. As I saw neighbors helping neighbors with cleanup, I thought of how much we need other people, perhaps more than we realize.

Last Sunday Connie and I went to church to worship the Lord. Along with hundreds of other folks we gave thanks to God for his protection and provision. We prayed for those whose homes were damaged. We thanked God for the electrical crews who came to Valdosta from other states to help our local power companies. We gave thanks for the volunteers from all over Georgia who came as part of the Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief ministry.

We gave thanks to God that we were kept safe in the storm.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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Portrait of a Pioneer

When I was invited to go to Nigeria several years ago, I prepared myself by reading the story of an early missionary to Africa, Andrew Stirrett. I would like to share some impressions from the book Stirrett of the Sudan, by Douglas C. Perry.

Andrew Stirrett

As an unmarried man, Andrew Stirrett was a successful businessman in Toronto. He was a pharmacist who owned two drugstores, real estate, and stocks and bonds. He was studying medicine at the University of Toronto. He became burdened to go to Africa through reading a pamphlet by Roland Bingham, “The Burden of the Sudan.”

He believed the Lord was calling him to be a missionary. He finalized his commitment by selling his businesses, property, and stocks and giving the proceeds to the Sudan Interior Mission. He traveled to Liverpool in England to study tropical medicine.

At the age of 38, he went to the Sudan in 1902, travelling at his own expense, without having been officially accepted by any mission board. In Africa he lived simply. Wherever he travelled everything he owned could fit into one trunk which could be carried on the head of a native porter.

“The little man was clinging to his call with every fibre of his slight being and his giant faith,” wrote Perry. “God would use the seemingly weak things of the world to confound the mighty.”

He spent years in language study eventually becoming fluent in the Hausa language. The British colonial government restricted missionary access to the Hausa speaking territories in the north for political reasons, So Stirrett opened a mission station on a trade route that gave access to thousands of traders heading north and south, in and out of the restricted area.

His “campfire talks would long be discussed and remembered, passed from mouth to mouth, unknowingly being used of God to spread his word. He had found an open door into the north that no man could shut.” Perry told the story of one woman who had heard about the white doctor at the Wushishi camp. She travelled 650 miles on foot to hear the message of God’s salvation. She became a Christian. When she disappeared it was believed that she was martyred for her faith.

Stirrett  went out on long treks, often outwalking younger men. He went from village to village, preaching the gospel. His regular practice was to rise at 3:45 am for prayer. He usually prayed out loud. He said he never wanted to see the sunrise until he had had two hours with his Master. He scheduled definite days for fasting and prayer.

An online article says, “He never missed an opportunity to give out the gospel. For many years at his headquarters in Jos, Nigeria, he would go daily to the large marketplace, stand upon a rock so that he could better be seen, hold up a large picture of Jesus and preach Christ to those who would give him audience.”

He was one of the translators of the Bible into the Hausa language. He said the crowning joy of his life was  when the British and Foreign Bible Society sent the first shipments of the newly-published Hausa BIble in November 1932. He also wrote Hausa hymns and a Bible concordance.

Dr. Andrew P. Stirrett died in July 1948, having served faithfully in Nigeria for almost 47 years. It was said that “his stature was short, but his shadow of influence over the work of the Lord in Nigeria is profound.” He is buried in Jos, Nigeria.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

 

 

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The Attraction of Heaven

When you and I feel discouraged or overwhelmed, it is useful to do what Paul the apostle did when he needed encouragement because of his sufferings. Instead of giving up, he focused on God and the great future God had for him in heaven. There was a time when God had allowed Paul to have a vision of Paradise which gave him confident hope and carried him through a lot of hard times.

The Lord led Paul to write about it for us in his second letter to the Corinthians so we could have that same confident hope to carry us through our difficulties. Reading about Paul’s experience leads to some conclusions about heaven.

There is a real place called “Paradise.”

In cryptic language Paul describes his own personal encounter with heaven in 2 Corinthians 12: 1-7. He does not know whether this was an out of the body experience, but he refers to it in terms of “visions and revelations from the Lord.” He says he was “caught up to Paradise.” In Jewish theology Paradise  was the place where the righteous went when they died, a synonym for heaven.

Paul called it “the third heaven,” presumably  beyond the earth’s atmosphere, and beyond the interplanetary heavens, the abode of God. The New Testament teaches that Jesus “passed through the heavens” when he ascended back to the Father (Hebrews 4:14).

This is not wishful thinking or escapism. Paul is writing about something he experienced. He writes about Paradise because there really is such a place. He went there. Of this he is certain. In fact, after having had such a momentous experience he said it was necessary for him to be humbled by a physical affliction he called his “thorn in the flesh.”

Modesty kept him from boasting about the experience, so he referred to himself indirectly as “a man in Christ,” implying that those who are in Christ will be admitted there. Jesus promised the criminal who was being crucified next to him, “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). This teaches us that any humble sinner who believes in Jesus will go  to be with Jesus when he/she dies.

Paradise is indescribable.

Paul had had many revelations from the Lord. For example, his teaching of the gospel was not something he had made up, nor did he receive it from another person; “rather I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:11-12).

The revelation of Paradise was etched in his memory as having been given to him fourteen years before the writing of 2 Corinthians. Philip E. Hughes said, “This was probably the most intimate and sacred of all Paul’s religious experiences as a Christian.” Possibly he had not written or spoken of this experience for all those years.

He said he heard “inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.” Did he see Jesus in his glory? Did the Lord speak to him directly? He does not say. Was the Lord vindicating and honoring Paul’s ministry? Was he revealing more truths to him? Warren Wiersbe said that “He overheard divine secrets that are shared only in heaven.”

Later on, the apostle John was permitted to tell us more about Paradise (Revelation 2:7,  22:1-5).

Paradise is a desirable place.

A Sunday School boy was asked if he wanted to go to heaven. He replied, “I don’t think so. Grandpa will be there and he will just say ‘run along boys and be quiet!'” Heaven will not be a grumpy, boring, or unhappy place. In fact our Lord explicitly said that children will be comfortable there. “Let the children come. . . . The kingdom of God belongs to such as these” (Mark 10:14-15).

Paul had been there and he knew. He described the magnificence of his experience as “surpassingly great revelations,” too wonderful for words. Paul was ready to go back there whenever the Lord was ready to take him. He wrote, “Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:6-8).

To the Philippian Christians he wrote, “to die is gain” and “to go and be with Christ is better by far” (Philippians 1:21-23). Why would he say that? Because he knew from experience that it is true.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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Quotes from John Newton

The famous author of the hymn “Amazing Grace,” John Newton, died in 1807 after a long and fruitful ministry as a pastor. The epitaph on his gravestone in Olney, England, reads as follows;

“John Newton, clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy.”

His “Letters,” written to instruct inquiring converts, have long been a source of theological and pastoral counsel. Here are a few quotes from Newton’s letters. I hope you find them as edifying as I did. This post continues one begun last week.

Though we can do nothing spiritually of ourselves . . . yet there is a part assigned to us: resist the devil, purge ourselves from the filth of the flesh and spirit, give ourselves to reading, meditation and prayer, watch, put on the armor of God, abstain from every appearance of evil.

Faithfulness to light received will result in increasing measures of light and strength.

On loving Christ: What trifles are capable of shutting Him out of our thoughts!

Jesus is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. The more vile we are in our own eyes, the more precious He will be to us.

Though sin wars, it cannot reign; though it breaks our peace, it cannot separate us from His love.

(Believers) are not considered as in themselves, but as one with Jesus, to whom they have fled for refuge, and by whom they live the life of faith. They are accepted in the Beloved, they have an Advocate with the Father, who once made atonement for their sins, and ever lives to make intercession for their persons. Though they cannot fulfill the law, He has fulfilled it for them; though the obedience of the members (of the Body) is defiled and imperfect, the obedience of the Head is spotless and complete; and though there is much evil in them, there is something good, the fruit of His own gracious Spirit.

But when, after a long experience of their own deceitful hearts, after repeated proofs of their weakness, ingratitude, and insensibility, they find that none of these things can separate them from the love of God in Christ, Jesus becomes more and more precious to their souls. They love much because much has been forgiven them.

There is the unshakable ground of hope: a reconciled Father, a prevailing Advocate, a powerful Shepherd, a compassionate Friend, a Savior who is able and willing to save to the uttermost.

With respect to the past (the Christian) knows all things are become new. With respect to the present and the future, he leans upon the almighty arm and relies upon the word and power which made and upholds the heavens and the earth.

Avoid all that is incompatible with the gospel and the mind of Christ.

Resist the devil and he will flee. If he were to tempt you to anything criminal, you would . . . renounce it with abhorrence. Do the same when he tempts you to question the Lord’s compassion and goodness.

If we could go to heaven without suffering, we might be unwilling to desire it.

Moses could not have persuaded the Israelites to leave if they had been comfortable and prosperous in Egypt.

We are never more safe, never have more reason to expect the Lord’s help, than when we are most sensible that we can do nothing without him.

If we seem to get no good by attempting to draw near to Him, we may be sure we shall get none by keeping away from Him.

By affliction our prayers are quickened, for our prayers are very apt to grow languid and formal in a time of ease.

Many graces are impossible apart from affliction: patience, meekness, longsuffering, pity, self-knowledge.

We judge things by their present appearances, but the Lord sees them in their consequences.

Let us cast down the load we are unable to carry, and if the Lord be our Shepherd, refer all, and trust all, to Him.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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Good News for a Hard Day

Today I received distressing news about a friend’s medical complications. I am praying for him. This has prompted me to meditate on Psalm 23.

I have spoken on this psalm many times in the past, mainly when presiding at funerals. It never ceases to be a support and comfort to those who are grieving. But today I am thinking of my friend and, frankly, of my own mortality.

Nobody knows for sure when David wrote this psalm. Was it as an old man, looking back over his life? Was it in his youth, surrounded by his father’s sheep? Was it in midlife when he was beset by threats to his life and kingdom by Absalom? Did he sing this psalm to King Saul to ease his emotional torments?  Maybe the psalm came out of his experience in the Valley of Elah, where he faced Goliath.

Psalm 23 is David’s description of a contented life, a courageous death, and a confident eternity. Read in the light of Jesus’ words it helps believers live with assurance of the Lord’s provision, presence, and protection.

A contented life

“The Lord is my shepherd,” David affirmed. The Lord is the one who identified himself to Moses as the I AM, the eternally self-existent God, known as Jehovah, or Yahweh. Jesus freely took this title upon himself when he declared to his detractors in the religious community, “Before Abraham was born, I AM.” He was stating clearly that he is the  Jehovah of the Old Testament and that to know God one must believe in him.

David knew God. He made it personal when he said, “The Lord is MY shepherd.” Jesus said he himself is the Good Shepherd who gives his life for the sheep. It is one thing to see a sentimental picture of  Jesus the shepherd holding one of his lambs and to believe that he is a good shepherd. It is something else to believe that he is your personal shepherd. Can you say that by faith?

“He restores my soul” is another way of saying “He brings back my soul.” That is the point of Jesus’ parable of the shepherd who goes out into the wilderness to find his lost sheep. He returns with joy having rescued the sheep. The Lord compared this with the rescue of a sinner who repents. Jesus came to earth on that kind of rescue mission, “to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10). He is the Good Shepherd who gave his life for the sheep.

Because of this relationship, David could express contentment: “I shall not be in want.” Or as the little girl in Sunday School misquoted it: “The Lord is my shepherd and that’s all I want!”

A courageous death

“I will fear no evil,” said David as he contemplated death. It was because of his assurance that the Lord would not forsake him but would be with him. The New testament puts it this way: “To go and be with Christ is better by far.” To be absent from the body in death is to “be present with the Lord” for the Christian.

The last and greatest enemy is death. In the presence of death the believer has the promise of the Lord’s provision of every grace that is needed for that hour. The Lord will be there with his rod to ward off every enemy of our souls, and with his staff to shepherd us safe home to the Father’s house.

A confident eternity

The Lord’s goodness and mercy mean that God is faithful to his promises. Mercy is steadfast love, or covenant love, which binds God to his commitments. That is why David (and you and I) can be so sure about eternal life. God’s covenant love never fails. There is no end to his faithfulness to his word.

“I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” makes us think of Jesus’ word that he is preparing a place for his people in the Father’s house. He is coming again to take us there, either by death or by rapture.  Paul summed it up: “I am persuaded (confident) that neither death nor life . . .  will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Amen.

Pastor Randy Faulkner

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A Reminder to be Thankful

I fell recently. Planted my face in the asphalt and knocked myself out. Broke my nose. My face was covered with scrapes and bruises. It looked like I had been hammered with an ugly stick. Pickleball is not for the faint of heart!

Thankfully, the CT scan in the ER showed no brain trauma. I do mean thankfully. I am thankful that the injuries were relatively minor and of short duration. The outcome could have been much worse.

This has reminded me of how thankful we should be for daily blessings from above. I am afraid that for too long I have taken for granted the gift of good health. The Parkinson’s diagnosis has reminded me how fragile and tentative life can be and how grateful I should be that God is holding me in the hollow of his hand.

Not long ago I was reading about how Nehemiah led the Jewish people in a celebratory ritual of thanksgiving. As a leader he wanted to impress upon the people the importance of taking time away from the routine of life to think about God’s blessings and to thank him.

God had brought them back home from a long captivity in Babylon and Persia. They had successfully rebuilt the city walls of Jerusalem. God had protected them from enemies. They had formally renewed their covenant relationship with God.

Now it was time to give thanks. Priests and Levites led liturgical prayers of thanks and praise. One of them was “Mattaniah . . . the director who led in thanksgiving and prayer” (Nehemiah 11:17). Some of them were musicians who “were sought out from where they lived and were brought to Jerusalem to celebrate joyfully the dedication with songs of thanksgiving” (Nehemiah 12:27).

Nehemiah and Ezra then assembled the leaders of Judah to ascend to the top of the wall of the city. They were led in a procession by two large choirs and instrumentalists. They marched around the city of Jerusalem on top of the wall in a boisterous celebration of thanks and praise to God. One group went in one direction led by Ezra. The other group, with Nehemiah following, went in the other direction.

The groups met at the temple area to publicly thank the Lord for all he had done to help and provide for them. Men, women and children “were rejoicing because God had given them great joy” (Nehemiah 12:43).

We are reminded every day of reasons to be unhappy. News of wars, dangerous weather, political scandals, social problems, moral decay, random and meaningless violence, for example, fuel our feelings of anxiety. We know that if our attention stays too long on these the mental and emotional cost will be high.

Nehemiah 12 helps us to look at the dangers of life through God’s perspective. Difficulties are not going to go away. They will always be there. But our faithful father in heaven in not going away either. He has promised he will be with us through whatever hardships we may face. He will be present to help us and sustain us.

We may fall, but he will be there to lift us and hold us. So let’s not forget to keep our eyes on him and give thanks.

Pastor Randy Faulkner